The Donald J. Trump Presidency

China is going to go buckwild in the South China Sea and across the world, unchecked by DJT, for the next four years. Xi is fucking juiced.

By nature I'm anti-imperialist and anti-interventionist, so there is some intrigue in the way he is trying to reconfigure the geopolitical order. But I have zero confidence he has any coherent strategy or idea what he's doing, so I'm sure he'll fuck it up.

Listening to some satellite talk radio show right now and after 2 mentions of "Pauly D" quoted in defense of one or another of Trump's latest outrages, I had to google to make sure I hadn't missed that a Jersey Shore cast member had become an official spokesman.  AFAICT, they were talking about Paul Ryan.

Wouldn't have been surprised though!

Trump: That is--that's not the free market when they go out and they move and they sell back into our country.
Wallace: But that's the free market. They made a decision and it makes --
Trump: No. That's -- that's the dumb market, okay? That's the dumb market. I'm a big free trader, but it has to be fair.


This is fucking incredible.

See you all on the other side, best of luck.

Well, guess my kids are going grow up learning to speak Chinese.

Trump's transition: sceptics guide every agency dealing with climate change

Goddamn. This doesn't seem like reality. I was actually in an airport in New Delhi, India when I found out that Trump was running for President. I remember it really well. I was walking past a television screen and I saw him fatefully descending that escalator. The closed captions were in Hindi so I had no idea what was going on. I asked one of the guys standing next to me what this was all about and he said, "well, I guess this man is trying to become President of America."

Sometimes I wonder if maybe I died in India and I'm just working my way through purgatory right now.

Every morning I wake up and grab my phone and check my email before getting out of bed, and I know there's going to be more news like this and I know how reading that news is going to make me feel. And when you're already clinically depressed and basically unemployed and needing every little scrap of motivation and hope that you can find just to get through the day and to push yourself into doing anything at all to try to get back on track, that's just suicide. I don't think I'm capable of becoming one of those people who "isn't interested in politics," but sometimes it seems like apathy, if I can devote myself to it, is the only reasonable coping mechanism.

I guess I could write/call my congressman to come out against this but he's a scientist who doesn't need any convincing and will automatically sign whatever letter they throw together to denounce this, which won't make any difference. He's a nuclear physicist but it wouldn't surprise me if he actually knows more about climate science than anyone in in congress. But that doesn't matter. I love the guy but he has zero charisma or ambition and could never build a case against the Trump team or Republicans' scientific ignorance. The amazing thing about congress and the presidential cabinet, which is probably common knowledge but that I remain completely aghast in the face of, is that you don't actually have to know shit about anything to lead a committee or run a department. And I guess that's common knowledge, but it's been easy enough to just take it for granted until now, despite the damage that it's surely caused over the years.

Like, the entire congressional/executive apparatus surrounding the environment & energy is going to be fucking James Inhofe clones. Everything I believe about how the world is "supposed" to work tells me that just can't be or that there has to be some check on something like that ever happening. I feel every bit as defeated and confused as I did back in 2004 when Bush was re-elected. I look back on that time and kind of smile and shake my head at how naive I was, because I was sure that nothing like it could ever happen again, that the shitty people of this country wouldn't allow it to happen again, or if they ever did, that I would be wiser and have some bigger perspective on life to deal with it and not just break down into total hopelessness.

This is all I can think about when I go to sleep at night and the first thing I think about when I wake up, except for those first three or four seconds.

Feeling most of this post.  Apathy is the only way that I've been able to keep going, as such.  Been that way for more than a few years, over here.  Lots of guilt to go along with it, and while that may be one of the last things that I need to be feeling, there's no doubt that it's better to feel guilty about putting my head in the sand than to feel like it makes more sense to give up than to go on.

I know how effective apathy is as a coping mechanism and I'm not going to deny it to anyone as a short-term tool. I've used plenty of it myself in the last month. But long-term and at scale, apathy is just another flavor of the same shitshake that Trump used to get elected. He doesn't even need the country to be as wretched as he is, if enough people are apathetic.

Apathy in moderation is fine, and I'm not going to tell anyone how to square the political situation with whatever's happening personally in their lives, but I really encourage people to get active and do something about this. It's the best solution I've found so far.

I was working on some long follow-up post to Undo's, which really resonated with my own trials and experiences right now, but I don't think I have anything new to contribute that hasn't already been said 1,000 different ways.

So I'll just say, to Undo, you're a really good writer. I loved the SOMB post you made. You have a strong voice that comes out in that post. It's an admirable skill and talent.

Thank you, that's encouraging to hear.

between this and the oakland fire, i've been more brutally depressed than ever. this is gonna get so, so bad.

WP suggested in another thread that I should be very worried that idiots have taken over the country. I believe that they will likely destroy a good part of it before too long. But real most of these people simply can't be reached. Maybe if and when the normal people get back in charge, we can finally get serious about imposing consequences on people responsible for the destruction.
In the meantime, whatever you may think about the funniness, not to mention the effectiveness of the Samantha Bees and Seth Myerses , the entire culture industry is lined up against Trump (ok, not Kid Rock, Scott Baio and presumably Rob Schneider, but still) and that REALLY fucking bothers them.

Though they are about to assume complete control of the federal government, it seems that as long as someone in this great land of ours isn’t kissing their ass, they can’t be happy.

Since shortly after The Leader’s victory, a team of show biz experts has been working to sign up appropriately boldface-name performers for his inauguration. But Garth Brooks fell through, as did Celine Dion, as did (despite an erroneous report from The Leader’s team) Elton John. This pattern prevailed until the press was talking less about who might perform at the event and more about who had already declined to do so, and soon Alec Baldwin was trolling The Leader with an offer to perform an AC/DC song.

The Leader was peeved and, as is his wont, issued an I Know You Are But What Am I statement via Twitter (“The so-called ‘A’ list celebrities are all wanting tixs to the inauguration…”) while inauguration producer Mark Burnett shook up his team and scoured the agencies.

And, for reasons that might be better described by their psychoanalysts, conservative writers who had spent the previous six weeks gloating over The Leader’s victory began to act as if they had instead lost everything, and lashed out in inchoate rage.

http://www.villagevoice.com/news/rightbloggers-mad-that-stars-they-despise-wont-come-out-for-trumps-inauguration-9500363

Some of you younger dudes may not appreciate this, but back in 2003-04, when the internet superhighway wasn't what it is today (no youtubes, twitters, facebooks, etcs.) I would meet someone new irl who was like "I don't like George W. Bush", and it was shocking something that seemingly commonplace and mundane made me feel like I wasn't alone, crazy or going to be sent to the gulag for my opinions.

It's much different now. He's not even president yet, and the pushback against this guy is already constant and huge.

Whatever helps you sleep at night. The reality is that these idiots are really dangerous and always have been.

Making yourself miserable, anxiety-ridden, and depressed over it accomplishes absolutely nothing, obviously. Refusing to acknowledge the real danger that this poses for global stability and actual people's lives is, I think, really bad. Our military involvement in Iraq destabilized an entire region and directly led to almost half a million Iraqis dying. Not to mention the millions of others who have literally no hope for their future. Letterman jabbing at Bush because he bungled a speech really doesn't interest them, or me.

Also, it's true that words matter and that they have a deep effect on a lot of things. From people's sense of self-worth to our ability to even perceive alternative political possibilities. That being said, the shit Trump says on Twitter should be mostly ignored. He is going to continue to say absolutely ridiculous shit for the next four years, mostly because he can't help himself, but also because it effectively will distract the media and public from getting informed on the actual policy consequences of his Presidency.

The theatrics are strategic. I was reading this New Yorker piece on Trump from '97 and found this:

One day, when I was in Trump’s office, he took a phone call from an investment banker, an opaque conversation that, after he hung up, I asked him to elucidate.

“Whatever complicates the world more I do,” he said.

Come again?

“It’s always good to do things nice and complicated so that nobody can figure it out.” wrote:

We can and should pay attention to both. The rest of the world will be.

Remember when Obama was elected in 2008 and Republicans were like, "you won, but don't spike the football!"

A friend of mine's going on vacation to DC to attend the Trump inauguration.

Jeff wrote:Just submitted my time off for our trip to DC for the inauguration. I coded it as bereavement instead of vacation days.

I already have the day off so I'll probably attend any protests they have downtown Chicago.

The timing of this airport shooting was a beautiful gift to Donald Trump

undo wrote:The timing of this airport shooting was a beautiful gift to Donald Trump

FALSE FLAG!
The shooter doesn't exist. It's the government distracting you from the real news.
Wake up sheeple!





It's what any good conservative says when the situation is reversed.

What is the likelihood the press conference happens today?

Holy shit