To be fair, pacification was also tried by the Russian Empire, the Ottomans, and the British East India Company, and arguably by the Golden Horde as well (although that sort of worked out in an absorb-and-assimilate the invaders sense). Afghanistan is a tough nut to crack.
1 Like
I think he’s selfish and woefully ill-equipped for the job, but I don’t think he actually wants to cause harm to the US. With that in mind, I really hope that his policies somehow manage not to be as bad as people are predicting. In healthcare for example – I don’t believe that whatever he has in mind “will broaden healthcare access, make healthcare more affordable and improve the quality of the care available to all Americans.” But like the passengers praying to the old and new gods that the idiot in front manages to land the plane safely, I’d like to see the Democrat predictions be as wrong as possible.
But I’m not optimistic.
2 Likes
His main goal is to enrich himself after becoming a lowly millionaire from a billionaire. He is absolutely fine with harming anyone who gets in his way.
10 Likes
This is the main difference between the analogy and reality: the idiot is flying the plane by remote control from his private helicopter.
6 Likes
Or intermittently running a twitter account and signing things while Pence and Priebus do whatever they want.
7 Likes
You think he has something in his mind?
I beg to differ.
2 Likes
The threshing floor.
I’d say.
In his first prime-time television interview since his upset victory on Tuesday, Mr. Trump repeated his promise to name a Supreme Court justice who opposed abortion rights and would help overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that recognized them, returning the issue to the states.
Asked where that would leave women seeking abortions, Mr. Trump, on the CBS program “60 Minutes,” said, “Well, they’ll perhaps have to go — they’ll have to go to another state.
5 Likes
Aren’t these rules for failing to survive an autocracy?
In the author’s own words: “I have learned a few rules for surviving in an autocracy and salvaging your sanity and self-respect.”
In an autocracy, you might be forced to choose between your “sanity and self-respect” and your life. I hope that’s not what’s in store for the United States, but really at this point it’s anyone’s guess.
6 Likes
Oh boy. This is probably worth watching, because it may provide pretext.
4 Likes
Actually. This is why I sometimes do not fear Trump in the slightest…does he ever actually do anything? Does he ever actually follow through on anything? I feel like he is such a blow hard, but in the end he has no real bite.
Maybe its wishful thinking on my part that he won’t be the worst thing ever, and he will just do nothing and come and go in 4 years time.
1 Like
The most worrying thing is this - Trump may (or may not) have moderate, inclusive NYer instincts (even though he’s from Queens, not from “the city”… but still, let’s give him that). But what if he’s bored and annoyed? What’s the most fun for him? Rallies! Lots of Rallies! And let … you know, Giuliani and the other mini-Duces run the show.
1 Like
His senior advisor:
5 Likes
Maybe. When the best case scenario is that he’s just a blowhard and won’t cause catastrophic damage, and even that’s not realistic, I guess naive optimism/denial is what’s left.
And this is her carefully worded response to a request to clarify her statements:
Uhm, first of all I was speaking my opinion. I wasn’t working on the campaign at that point. So, that wasn’t an official statement from the Trump campaign, that was just all me. And uhm, let’s just say. God, I have to be so careful about what I say now. But, uhm, the list of people who have turned on him, who has gone from friend to foe is so incredibly long. The list of people who have mocked him…I mean Mitt Romney held an entire press conference and gave a twenty minute speech calling Donald Trump “con man” and a “fraud” and all of that. And so, yes, if I was to point to one person who should read that quote over and over again…he’d probably be one of them.
And he still made her “Director of African-American Outreach”.
8 Likes
Let me say this now, as clearly and concisely as I can:
That opportunistic self-hating bitch can go fuck herself with a rusty iron spike.
She doesn’t represent Black community; most of us disavow her as an attention seeking disgrace.
Her false words and unwanted presence will not make one iota of difference to us, especially as we keep dying in the streets at the hands of the police and filling up the prison system disproportionately.
And yes, I a feminist Black woman, just used a gendered insult in describing her.
I do not apologize; I went to college with that woman, and I speak from experience when I say that she is also not a good person.
19 Likes
It’s kind of… apocalyptic language:
By myself I have sworn,
my mouth has uttered in all integrity
a word that will not be revoked:
Before me every knee will bow;
by me every tongue will swear.
They will say of me, ‘In the Lord alone
are deliverance and strength.’”
All who have raged against him
will come to him and be put to shame.
Isaiah 45:23-24
Paul cites this verse twice to refer to Jesus at Judgement Day. You’d think that after all the conspiracy theories about different presidents being the Antichrist, this statement would have come up on fundamentalists’ radar.
6 Likes
She became a fake preacher after her stint on reality tv, so it’s fitting.
7 Likes
No, please. Tell us how you really feel. 
2 Likes
I feel like I am stuck in a horrific nightmare with no way to wake up.
12 Likes
