Trump Gives Defense of Torture Speech Based on Internet Hoax?

Seriously, Republicans, THIS is your guy? Image from source, MSNBC

Seriously, I just can't. I can't figure out how this pompous, hideous-looking creature with the perplexing hair hat, a virtually fact-free Palinesque speaking style, and completely repellent personality is still--STILL--your guy.

He can say or do whatever he wants. It can be a blatant lie. It can be outrageously offensive. It can be completely counter to every one of your bedrock conservative "values." He can curse. He can insult. He is crass and classless. He has a boundless ego. And he has virtually no details on how he would enact an agenda that is far, far deeper into fantasyland than anything Bernie Sanders has put forth. And he's still your guy. His one saving grace (and believe me, "grace" is only being used because it is a time-worn phrase) is that he doesn't appear to be the type to try to put his religious beliefs ahead of the Constitution. No doubt because he either has no real religious beliefs, or is a self-worshipper.

That's not enough, and is still contrary to ordinary conservative principles. I've got to think when this election is over, whether Trump loses, or--horrifyingly--he wins, that Conservatives are going to wake up with a massive hangover.

[Excerpt]

Trump hails torture, mass killings with ‘pigs blood’ ammo in SC

Donald Trump closed his South Carolina campaign on Friday with a rambling speech highlighted by a giddy, almost childlike, enthusiasm for torturing and summarily executing the suspected enemies of America in the name of safety. . .

Read more at: MSNBC

Donald Trump's Cult of Personality: What is Wrong with Trump's Supporters?

An internet comments section come to life. That is the best (and increasingly frequent) summation of Donald Trump's candidacy. I've seen it now from several sources, and it's becoming more common, because it fits so well. If you don't know what that means, it means that Trump is pure id. He will make his "point" forcefully, whether or not it makes any sense. He'll answer a question with non-sequiturs, with irrelevant, exaggerated, boasts. He goes off on tangents, sometimes several at once, embedding parentheticals inside parentheticals. All the while bulldozing everyone else in the discussion and declaring himself the victor, even if he said nothing of substance.

I'm watching Morning Joe right now, and The Donald is on the phone. For some reason, this show (and most others) is willing to have Trump appear via phone call at any moment to discuss anything, at length. But today, they're discussing Trump's over-the-top immigration comments about Muslims. His comments have drawn the ire of many prominent Republicans, and have stomped on virtually every other political story of the moment.

Trump is pulling his usual schtick, filibustering the hosts (most of which are very friendly to him), using his familiar third-grader vocabulary and argument style. When they ask him a pointed question, he regales them with tales of his standing room only crowds, his place in the polls, the weakness of his opposition, and little else. He declares himself "right," while offering very, very little of substance.

In short, he's doing what he always done. But he's terrible. No other candidate could get away with it for this long. The problem is, as I see it, moving from Trump to his supporters. What is wrong with your average Trump supporter? What are you seeing here? He's a blowhard bully, an egotistical asshat, still spewing obnoxious vaguaries, still absent any real-world specifics.  He is a complete paradox: a cult of personality, where the personality is to most rational people, simply vile. When will the spell be broken?

Right Wing World: Presidential Politics Off The Rails

If this were my first or second year of blogging, I'd probably be typing my fingers into stumps, trying to keep up with the utter insanity overtaking Republican politics right now. But it isn't. I'm actually in my ninth year, and no longer feel compelled to hit this stuff quite so hard. I'm actually kind of glad I don't. It's making me crazy enough as it is.

Listen, I am aware that a lot of what's going on in the world is scary, confusing, complicated and difficult to process. It's just as hard as a hobbyist blogger (i.e., no more professional training than your average talk radio boob or FOX "News"-babe) to figure out what to write. The president spoke from the Oval Office last night, ordinarily something I'd write about. But I listened to the conservative response, which was uniformly negative, naturally, and just threw up my hands. Because, surely the president knows nothing and we really should be following what Joe Scarborough or Sean Hannity thinks we should do, right?

Image from source, Washington Post

Trouble is, the people auditioning for the actual president's job are quite arguably worse than the idiots in the conservative media. Any pretense at looking "presidential" is out the window. Any caution for how their words are perceived internationally is ignored. Even reality itself seems rather malleable in Right Wing World. You've got Trump ready to ignore Muslim Americans' civil rights, you've got Ted Cruz talking about nuking and "carpet bombing" (a war crime) swaths of the Middle East. Conservative standard-bearers--allegedly strict constitutional constructionists--want to throw out religious freedom (unless it's made-up Christian "persecution"). Everything has gone topsy-turvy. And it just keeps getting worse.

I get really bummed when I read internet polls or comments sections, and see these "conservatives" on board with this shit! This is allegedly the cautious party, the party afraid of change, the ones about "rule of law" and "personal responsibility" saying and doing whatever it is that their frothing-at-the-mouth, batshit crazy base will eat with a spoon. Regardless of whether or not it's the most anti-American, potentially unconstitutional, often internationally illegal and quite literally illogical claptrap ever spewed in politics.

Maybe I need to come back to this thing more often.

[Excerpt]

Donald Trump is a disaster for Republicans. And they can’t do a thing about it.

Donald Trump seemed to signal a new -- and even darker -- phase of his front-running campaign for the Republican presidential nomination Monday when he released a statement insisting that Muslims should be banned from entering the country under any circumstances "until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on. . ."

Read more at: Washington Post

Facepalm: Ann Coulter's Islamophobia and Racism

UPDATE: I should have stopped with the first piece, as it would seem that the second here is originally from The Daily Currant, which is a parody site that is very, very good at writing believable stories. The source was obscured, and I missed it. Totally my bad, but it should be acknowledged that it is also entirely believable that Ann Coulter would say such a thing. Apologies. The first piece? Totally true.


Harpie's Bizarre, image from Mediaite

It's just. . .I mean I can't. . . This is just so. . .

[Excerpt]

Ann Coulter to Hannity: Putin Is Making a ‘Monkey’ Out of Obama on Syria

Ann Coulter joined Sean Hannity on Monday night to bash President Obama for a failure of leadership on Syria. Hannity called Obama “confused” and “wimpy,” while Coulter derided the White House for thinking this is a simple Aaron Sorkin monologue away from being solved, adding that she believes Vladimir Putin has made Obama into a “monkey” on Syria. . .

Read more at: Mediaite



The following is redacted because it has been found to be originally from a parody site, as noted above.

[Excerpt]

Ann Coulter On Syria: ‘Why is Gassing Arabs a Bad Thing?’

Conservative commentator Ann Coulter generated fierce criticism today for suggesting that the gas attack in Syria last month was good for the United States. In an interview with Fox and Friends this morning, she argued that since the victims were Arabs such attacks would reduce the number of future terrorists and that therefore president Obama shouldn't intervene to stop them. . .

 

Read more at: Codewit