In Japan, Trump orders USS John McCain to cover its name and get out of sight

“Zoomies”?

I know it’s intended to be a pejorative, like “Squids”, “Grunts”, “Jarheads”, etc. But it is non-gendered, and as nicknames go it’s not that bad. I was in the USAF and didn’t care when I was called a zoomie. But maybe that’s just me.

3 Likes

What a miserable little loser the U.S. has as a president.

11 Likes

He also recently tweeted, then deleted, a statement acknowledging that Russia helped to get him elected.

I think he is still torn between his instinctive need to praise people who say nice things about him and his egotistical insistence that he did it all by himself.

17 Likes

Also: reportedly sailors from that ship were turned away from the president’s address.

Yep, this is some real third-world dictator/Stalinist shit going on, when those around the president go to great lengths to keep given names out of his eye, knowing he’s so unbalanced and petty that he couldn’t handle it.

And that they were afraid of what he’d do in response.

Yeah. Trump is one man (who was often ignored by his more reasonable staff) being petty and irrational. Now that he’s increasingly surrounded by those who have internalized his values, they can do a lot more damage being petty and irrational on his behalf.

They know him well. (Though, to be fair, it’s easy to simulate Trumpian thought processes - just ask, WWAAD? [What would an asshole do?])

Hey, at least no one was kneeling!

Someone needs to put together a running total of all the Onion stories that have turned out to be true under Trump. I’ve seen at least four or five so far.

Because there was an almost identical satirical story, although from “ClickHole” rather than the Onion, about coal being the “patriotic vegetable that comes from the mountains.” I think the reality may be more absurd.

12 Likes

I can’t believe this is an adult man anywhere, much less the president of the United States.

What a pathetic fucking child. Truly pathetic and childish on a new human level

3 Likes

Airpeeps. Airfolks. Airspacers.

I got nothin.

4 Likes

From the Stars and Stripes article:

In Jakarta, Indonesia, on Thursday morning, Acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan told reporters, “When I read about it this morning, it was the first I heard about it.” Asked if he would investigate, Shanahan said he would need to know more first.

Huh? He won’t investigate, until he knows more? Isn’t that the point of investigating? Sheesh.

Edit: The Washington Post article reveals a little more:

The Journal reported that acting defense secretary Patrick Shanahan knew of the White House’s concerns and approved military officials’ efforts to obscure the name. But Shanahan, speaking to reporters Thursday in Indonesia, denied that account.

No wonder he doesn’t want to investigate.

8 Likes

Moving the armed forces around for his own personal vanity. Nice. Make sure to add that to the impeachment proceedings.

6 Likes

“Airfolk”

6 Likes

https://memegenerator.net/img/instances/75105212.jpg

1 Like

Military NCOs have historically been masters of obeying-commands-by-the-letter-but-not-the-intent for centuries. For example, cover the name of the ship with a tarp - a perfectly clear tarp.

11 Likes

I was hoping there might be a more gradual decline to “Full Caligula” but I was much too optimistic. Mitch McConnel will whinny, neigh a few times, before galloping around the Senate when he hears this.

5 Likes

com-add-text

3 Likes

For this aircraft carrier/golf course to be truly Trump-compliant, it should be:

  • all in gold (certainly not grey)
  • in dry dock, listing slightly (since it could in no way be functional)
  • have the TRUMP name prominently affixed
  • have liens attached (since it is already in bankruptcy court)
8 Likes

Same here. From a personal perspective, I would have expect everyone in the military to throw the towel on the weapons of mass destruction issue, latest. But I understand why it does not work like this, on an abstract level.

1 Like

A nation in slow, ongoing collapse under the oversight of a mad, narcissistic asshole who lives in the perpetual shadow of those better and more noble than himself, desperate to be seen as worthy even if it means tearing down the whole edifice of the state in the process.

Oh shit, are we Gondor?

9 Likes

IDK why you and @anon61833566 understood I was saying so. I simply would not think that a ship’s crew or their superiors would disregard their commander in chief over the name of their boat. Seriously, all naval traditions and sacred throwing of bottles at the hull, there won’t be a mutiny, or a wave of resignations about such an issue.

There is discontent, otherwise this story would not even have surfaced.

A clear and loud “fuck off”, as @Akimbo_NOT would have shouted in the face of the president is simply not very realistic in a military environment.

1 Like

Well, you stated essentially it would only be for “big things” and I am categorically telling you that is false. Petty bullshit orders are disobeyed at times too. You can believe as you like. My 8 years of service in uniform help to inform my stance.

1 Like

Trump has ruined my ability to enjoy the Onion and other similar sites because it’s become too difficult to distinguish satire from reality.

12 Likes

And yet Cheeto is wildly popular among the military officer corps.

I’ll bet this doesn’t have the slightest affect on his popularity, either.