Writes Sam Adler-Bell, in "The Music Man/Trump’s kitschy nostalgia is the point" (NY Magazine).
Sounds like the final scene in "Five Easy Pieces":
October 20, 2024
"We expect our would-be tyrants to command a certain gravitas, to be earnest, play it straight. But Donald Trump almost never does."
"He’s always smirking, acting coy, camp, or just plain bizarre. The effect can be deflating, confusing, bathetic. Can a man this ridiculous really pose an existential threat to our democracy?... [I]n Oaks, Pennsylvania... [Trump] spent 39 minutes mostly silent, standing, rocking side to side, and occasionally dancing to his campaign playlist.... Pundits were quick to call the musical interlude inexplicable and to attribute the choice to Trump’s congenital weirdness and possible mental deterioration. They seemed to have hope that this was the type of moment that might wake up the electorate. But I didn’t find his performance particularly jarring. The sentiment he expressed — who the hell wants to keep doing this shit — brought to mind a wistful indiscretion from the grinding days of the 2020 campaign. 'By the way, nice trucks,' Trump said to a crowd in Allentown, Pennsylvania, which included a contingent of Truckers for Trump. 'You think I could hop into one of them and drive it away? I’d love to just drive the hell out of here. Just get the hell out of this. I had such a good life. My life was great.'"
Writes Sam Adler-Bell, in "The Music Man/Trump’s kitschy nostalgia is the point" (NY Magazine).
Writes Sam Adler-Bell, in "The Music Man/Trump’s kitschy nostalgia is the point" (NY Magazine).
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I have not seen that movie. I need to. I like Jack.
I guess this is the big October surprise. Get Obama and the media out there to say Trump says funny things. Must be gonna steal again…
The DJT quote at the end of hightlighted section about truckers is funny as heck.
Pundits were quick to call the musical interlude inexplicable..."
This "analysis' says more about this f***er's case of Trump Derangement Syndrome than it does about Trump.
italico
Bottom line: Trump is real. Kamala is (who the hell knows what Kamala is?). Without a vagina she might not carry a single state.
The New Hollywood. It's not really an easy watch, though - but you can tell Jack isn't having to work hard, to play the character.
We expect our political pundits to know the whole story of what they are writing about. But anti-Trump writers almost never do.
I've heard quite a bit about Trump's impending age-related mental infirmity, because he suspended a rally when two people had medical incidents, heard a lot about him playing requests and swaying to the music. In other words, showing consideration and some compassion. I haven't heard about how the incidents resolved though. Were the people OK, or not?
You don't hate the press enough.
Republican Platform
Free Enterprise
Secure Borders
Honest Elections
Real Journalism
Ethical Judiciary
Civil Rights
Moral Standards
Personal Liberty
Democrat Platform
Hate Trump
"Can a man this ridiculous really pose an existential threat to our democracy?" The simple answer is no. The answer which depends on cognitive dissonance can be yes, but it takes a lot of work. You have to either be in a bubble or be lazy, or dishonest to write about the musical interlude and either not know, because you were too lazy to do any research whatsoever, or know that there was a medical condition being dealt with and then lie about it to further your narrative.
they are quite terrible at it, it must be keeping all these delusions in mind, at once,
His delusions are just baroque in the extreme
Good point. After taking a breath from my earlier comment, I realized how the beginning of his piece, and the trucker interlude, totally undercuts the would-be tyrant theme.
From the article:
"He’s always smirking, acting coy, camp, or just plain bizarre. The effect can be deflating, confusing, bathetic. Can a man this ridiculous really pose an existential threat to our democracy?... [I]n Oaks, Pennsylvania... [Trump] spent 39 minutes mostly silent, standing, rocking side to side, and occasionally dancing to his campaign playlist.... Pundits were quick to call the musical interlude inexplicable and to attribute the choice to Trump’s congenital weirdness and possible mental deterioration>"
Sam Adler Bell intentionally leaves out the reason for the interlude, two medical emergencies. So disingenuous!
Except for a single chain, it looked like that truck driver in Five Easy Pieces was carrying an unsecured load.
“Trump is bad, blah, blah, blah.” It’s all so boring. Harris has not presented a single affirmative reason to vote for her.
A positive center left candidate who actually governed that way effectively and shoved the leftist kooks back into the closet would never lose. But the Dems don’t want to do that.
Adler addled.
In other news…
Because Trump does a large number of intereviews, and gives rallies where he ad-libs for hours at time, any Trump-hater can pick out a sentence or a paragraph and spin it anyway he wants. The MSM almost always spins it negative.
Trump has been musing about how the Press suddenly changed from mild approval to outright hate in August 2015 for years. It's incredible the way the Trump haters (lead by the MSM and Establishment) try to jail Trump, assassinate him, attack his family, accuse him of treason, slander him, sue him, and put his associates in jail or bankrupt them, and debank him.
And yet, if Trump fights back, or gets upset about it, or fights fire with fire, Trump is the one to blame. He's the problem! No, he's supposed to let the opposition throw mud at him 24/7 while he turns the other cheek and plays Statesman.
Its astounding he's still standing and still running for President. Or even alive.
Two people needed medical attention.
The hack Soviet-Democratic Media (SDM) refuse to acknowledge this.
Yep. And if DJT had continued on in a manner not diplaying concern for the afflicted, you know the press would be all over DJT. "Heads DJT loses, tails KH wins" for the MSM.
"He’s always smirking, acting coy, camp, or just plain bizarre." Obviously, he isn't "always" doing that. Obviously, progs who tell us not to believe our lying eyes spout BS.
"Can a man this ridiculous really pose an existential threat to our democracy?" Umm, no, but then, he never did.
"[Trump] spent 39 minutes mostly silent, standing, rocking side to side, and occasionally dancing to his campaign playlist". For good reason.
"'You think I could hop into one of them and drive it away? I’d love to just drive the hell out of here. Just get the hell out of this. I had such a good life. My life was great.'" What's bizarre about that? Sounds genuine. Plus if Dems want to get real men back onto their plantation, comments like this don't help.
But it's true Trump's life was "great." Undercuts the prog narrative of him being in politics to serve his own interest.
It'd be interesting the speculate what the race would be like if Biden had governed as the President of ALL the people, instead of trying to jail trump and call all his supporters Nazis and racists. Or did radical things like open the borders and refuse to enforce the immigration laws.
Imagine if Biden had pardoned Trump and all the J6ers and offered an olive branch and tried to unite the country. And simply done his job and enforced the laws fairly and completely. He'd probably be running for POTUS and on his way to a 2nd term.
But the D's want to be totalitarians. My way or the Gulag.
Democrats will soon enjoy their Rendezvous with Destiny. Harder and with some sand and gravel thrown in the mix. No lube. If you get my drift.
Biden was never in charge. The people in charge weren't facing an election of any kind or, at least, they don't believe an election can hurt them.
Trump thrills his Pennsylvania audience with locker room talk.
"Trump kicked off his rally with a speech that included crude suggestions about Arnold Palmer’s genitalia." ~ AP
In this Pennsylvania town, it was a tradition: walk your cow over to the billionaire's rally to pick up your million dollar check, and then head on over to the diner to swap stories about men showering together.
Trump knows how to read the room...
If you had Trump talking about Arnold Palmer’s penis on your bingo card, you win.
Would-be tyrants don't wait until they're 70 to try to take public office.
How did shooter Alec Baldwin play it?
I remember a pre 2016 video of Trump talking about if he becomes President he will never be able to drive his own truck himself ever again. How odd that a guy would give up that kind of independence.
There is an old joke (with various details abounding) that a NYT reporter, an atheist (duh) sees Jesus walking on water. The next day's headline is, "Jesus can not swim". The entire MSM think that is journalism when Trump is involved.
"Sam Adler Bell intentionally leaves out the reason for the interlude, two medical emergencies. So disingenuous!"
That's unfair and wrong. I excerpted the quote and made an effort to shorten it. Don't you see the ellipsis after "campaign playlist"?
What I left out was "The proceedings had started normally enough: Audience members asked reasonable questions about the economy; Trump responded with his usual shtick (“Drill, baby, drill”; the Democrats are letting “Hannibal Lecter” over the border). But after two people in the crowd had medical emergencies in quick succession — the room was apparently stifling — Trump decided to switch gears. “Let’s not do any more questions. Let’s just listen to music,” he said after “Ave Maria” finished. “Who the hell wants to hear questions, right?”"
Trump could well be suffering from some form of cognitive problem — I am no expert. But the idea that his impromptu musical interlude demonstrated that he is suffering from dementia is either disingenuous or wishful thinking.
While it might be fair to acknowledge that Trump displays impressive stamina for a 78-year-old McDonald’s Happy Meal member, he does also seem to be making increasing numbers of verbal slips, and that those may be age-related. At the same town hall he encouraged voters to go and vote “on January 5th” (two months after the election date). He recently said “the president of North Korea” was “basically trying to kill” him (he is presumed to have been talking about Iran). There are many other examples.
The most bizarre thing is why people are starting to show concern about Trump's state and fitness of mind now. I mean, come on!
where does Trump talk about "Genitialia"? Its implied by the listener
I'm no expert, but reading Mrs. palmer's comment leads me to believe she might be suffering from a mental disease. But otherwise, her comment is OK.
Never fails to amaze me that these MSM media folks revile Trump and trumpet Harris, when Harris/Walz ticket is not only inexperienced, ill-prepared, poorly-educated, with zero private-sector work-experience, and near-zero international diplomacy and/or business administration experience. 2024 Democratic ticket is probably the weakest presidential ticket ever presented to Americans.
I'm voting for Republican ticket, for Vance, more so than Trump, simply because he's the only true well-rounded grown-up on either ticket who has any real-life experience as average American citizen of hometown USA. You'd think MSM media would celebrate this unique background, but instead they've consistently vilified him.
We live in a Lewis Carroll story, up is down, right is left, and worst is supposedly best for us US citizens.
"We expect our would-be tyrants to command a certain gravitas, to be earnest, play it straight. But Donald Trump almost never does."
Well... Donald Trump is not a tyrant, would-be or otherwise. So there's that.
no crazier that a house of cats and rocking chairs,
Kamala is a commie right out of the womb. Expect no less.
He's weird without saying he's weird? Well, they repeat everything else...
That's the 2nd time in Five Easy Pieces that Bobby hitches a ride on a truck, but I don't think Trump can play a piano.
+1 - Trump's "insurance candidate" poses an interesting political changeup.
"Listener" is unbalanced. A sad story, from an accident at birthing.
I think you did your readers a disservice by leaving that portion out; I had heard about the medical emergencies shortly after this rally but I then went to the link to NY (which I hate to give clicks) to read what I believe you should have left in.
That may be "wrong" (accusing Adler) but it wasn't "unfair" considering what you served up.
"Arnold Palmer was all man and I say that in all due respect to women, and I love women, but this is a guy that was all man...When he took showers with the other pros they came out of there, they said, ‘Oh my God. That's unbelievable.’” ~ Donald Trump
Also Democrat Platform:
Love Trump? You're censored !
Ask hard questions of Democrats? You're censored !
Keep asking hard questions of Democrats, in public settings? You're censored and maybe cancelled !
Really, Mrs Palmer? Those two examples are mistakes any 50 y/o commonly might well make.
Your lack of expertise on "cognitive problems" is confirmed.
It was real, and it was spectacular!
"We expect our would-be tyrants to command a certain gravitas, to be earnest, play it straight. But Donald Trump almost never does."
Perhaps that implies that Donald Trump is not going to be a tyrant?
Whose penis is Trump thinking about today?
I’m surprised Trump hasn’t already started selling Arnold Palmers' Patriotic Penis merch yet. And you know it will be the highest-selling MAGA merch of the campaign season.
The Closing Argument:
Harris: i will expand Medicare to cover the cost of home health care aides
Trump: man, this dead golfer had a huge hog, let me tell ya
Remember yesterday in the Althouse post when Trump talked about Harvey Weinstein getting “schlonged”. Yes, that was yesterday.
So Harris lied and Trump told the truth? Better than nothing is a high bar, as someone once said.
The leftist laments in authoritarian angst.
"We expect our would-be tyrants to command a certain gravitas, to be earnest, play it straight. But Donald Trump almost never does."
Have you given any consideration to the premise that he is not a would -be tyrant?
No. You first decide he is a tyrant and then you gather all your evidence to support that claim. But you are always failing because he doesn't play by the tyrant rules. Or maybe it's just that he isn't a tyrant.... Nah.
You have mis-cast him. It's like asking Doris Day to Play the wicked Witch of the west.
5 easy pieces. Great acting by Jack, boring pointless story.
It's garbage. A brat being bratty.
if Dr.Jill could ever have had such thoughts she would have secured second term
A demonstration of the logical fallacy of the undistributed middle:
I hate Trump
I hate tyrants
Ergo, Trump is a tyrant
QED.
"We expect our would-be tyrants to command a certain gravitas, to be earnest, play it straight. But Donald Trump almost never does."
As Wa St Blogger beat me to pointing out: If you had a functioning brain, you'd question your priors here.
Can a man this ridiculous really pose an existential threat to our democracy?... Pundits were quick to call the musical interlude inexplicable and to attribute the choice to Trump’s congenital weirdness and possible mental deterioration. They seemed to have hope that this was the type of moment that might wake up the electorate
Trump was clearly and calmly doing the right thing, keeping the crowd quiet while emergency workers came in to help people.
One would have to operate from complete ignorance to hope that voters would have a problem with that.
Heck, claiming they should is clearly misinformation
"And Trump, at his most prosaic, is just a cruel and racist bully."
- Sam Adler-Bell
That's unfair and wrong.
Trump should ask Kamala for a chicken salad sandwich on toast - hold the chicken salad….
JSM
I saw a comment on X about how strange it was that a man was in office for four years without becoming a fascist dictator and yet the expectation is that he was merely waiting until he was re-elected to become one? Diabolically clever!
Hard to argue with that, Aggie!
It drives some people nuts that Trump just acts like a regular person , and not a polished politician, from time to time.
Oh noes, the end is coming. Again.
“all man” could’ve meant Palmer was covered with hair “all over his body” (h/t Maude Frickert)… meaning he weren’t no metrosexual.
Those were different times back then. When men were real men and chains were real chains.
He could be thinking about this fella, Rich. He’d have your mouth, your bleached backhole AND you could be like Iggy and “have it in your ear before”!
https://www.popsci.com/science/man-with-three-penises/
Nuttin’ from nuttin’, but dat second mimosa at brunch has both inspired me and kicked my ass, lol…
If my memory serves me well, Lilly, Bobby hitched another wild ride on Sally Struthers, while doing laps around a room.
Don’t shim though!
Why is a truck carrying logs from Washington to Alaska?
And isn't the truck headed south out of the gas station?
I saw the movie a few months ago. Not b
Terrible but I didn't last all the way through
John Henry
We distrust humor? Hmm. The dictators of the 20th century did not show much sense of humor, did they? They spoke harshly, warning their people of horrible dangers. like the Ukranians undermine "our democratic socialism," or the Jews polluting "our Aryan race." The other side sounds more like this "gravitas."
I never liked Jack Nicholson and I avoided that movie for years because of the obnoxious cafe scene that everyone seemed to love so much. But when I finally saw it I was astonished that they even took on that story. Not "pointless" at all if you've ever disappointed a parent.
I even learned that Chopin thing he played. The easiest pieces are the best IMO.
"Pundits were quick to call the musical interlude inexplicable and to attribute the choice to Trump’s congenital weirdness and possible mental deterioration."
The latest hoax. Everyone knows there were two medical emergencies at the time. They're not even trying anymore.
Karen Black - although Sally was in the picture.
No Aggie, Iman is correct. In the scene he's talking about it was Sally Struthers One of two women I wish I could unsee naked, the other being Kathy Bates. in another Nicholson movie.
Those were the days when the baby sat on your lap and steered the car.
Kamala drank a beer!
Asserted without evidence. She place the beer to her lips, but it is only alleged that she drank it.
“Trump is bad, blah, blah, blah.” It’s all so boring. Harris has not presented a single affirmative reason to vote for her.
It's all they have. It's all they ever have.
Look at Inga's comment about the Baldwin/Hovde debate. Bitch, bitch, bitch about all the bad things about Hovde and not a single word in support of Baldwin.
It's pathetic.
OMG! Gravitas. Is it the 2000 election again?
Harris: i will expand Medicare to cover the cost of home health care aides
Why hasn't she done it already? She's had three and a half years.
"Why hasn't she done it already? She's had three and a half years."
Everybody knows why. It's Trump's fault.
Tcrosse, are you accusing her of not swallowing? Guess there’s a first for everything….
JSM
Lol
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