Trump the Chump (Part 1)

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Remember this coal company asshat?

It seems that there is love lost between Trump and Murray. Trump saving the coal industry? LOL not so fast.

"Murrayā€™s company is seeking a two-year moratorium on closures of coal-fired power plants, which would be an unprecedented federal intervention in the nationā€™s energy markets. The company said invoking the provision under the Power Act was ā€œthe only viable mechanismā€ to protect the reliability of the nationā€™s power supplyā€¦

ā€¦The Energy Department has already informed Murray it will not invoke the law, an official with knowledge of the decision told the AP."

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Somehow I can actually hear him say this: ā€œRest assured that you will be able to look into your childrenā€™s eyes and know that their children and their childrenā€™s children will be conducting military operations in a country thatā€™s far more stable than it once was.ā€

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Legit thought this was real for a hot second.

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https://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2017-08-22/trump-rebuffs-coal-industry-ceo-claims-promise-broken

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See above. The Coal Co CEO is the same fellow who is suing John Oliver.

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Litigation-happy asshole, in other wordsā€¦

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Iā€™m not a fan of Towhey, so Iā€™m a little biased, but I donā€™t think working for Rob Ford is even vague qualification for giving advice about Trump. I understand why people would want to make that comparison, but Ford was actually very relatable as a human being. People werenā€™t writing ā€œFord is a Voidā€ articles or otherwise suggesting that we give up on trying to understand him because he is not understandable in familiar terms. Ford was a very privileged person with substance abuse problems who actually had quite a bit of empathy for other people even if I think he wasnā€™t smart enough to put it to effective use. He said things that were untrue either because he was lying or because he was uninformed. He behaved in an uncooth manner because he was uncooth (and often because he was drunk or high).

Trump exists on an axis perpendicular to truth, to etiquette, to empathy. The idea that Towhey would be able to handle him seem pretty foolish to me.

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Trump Trolled by Canadian Mayor After NAFTA Swipe

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Remember how people were saying Ivanka would be a ā€œmoderating voiceā€?

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Promises, promisesā€¦

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Hmmmm ala Noriega? 24/7 blasts of negative news narrated by Kathy Griffin (for the annoying voice) directed at the WH until the deed is done? I hear Kathy needs the work.

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http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/he-cant-even-fake-it

In addition to the basic body language he keeps saying things like ā€œHave a Good Time!ā€ to people stranded in a shelter. Or, ā€˜itā€™s going greatā€˜ to people whoā€™ve just lost everything. Or, look at this huge turnout to people who ā€¦ well, you get the idea. When it comes to acting human or compassionate itā€™s like the part of his brain governing that species of behavior has been removed.

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This is kinda the reverse of that, but Iā€™m reminded of a bit in one of the Oliver Sacks books.

Itā€™s a chapter covering aphasia (neurological language impairment). He tells a story about being in a room with a bunch of people with severe receptive aphasia (i.e. they can no longer decipher language with any fluency).

They were watching a speech by Ronald Reagan, which was reviewed in the mainstream press as being serious, important and well-delivered.

But the roomful of aphasics spent the whole time cracking up with laughter.

They couldnā€™t understand the words, but they could very clearly perceive all of the carny-barker con-artist tricks of non-verbal rhetoric that he was using (pacing, intonation, body language, etc). They were all apparently astonished that anyone could believe such a blatant crook.

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Hmm. Okay, Iā€™d have to read that. Since they were aphasic, Iā€™d wonder at how that detailed conclusion was reached. (I donā€™t disagree, and I want to believe, but thatā€™s when I like to be careful.)

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Thatā€™s my vague recollection of a book I read fifteen years ago, BTW. And Oliver Sacks is worth applying scepticism to; his standard schtick is to stretch very limited case-study evidence into grand speculative hypotheses.

OTOH, aphasia is not always total, and it doesnā€™t hit all modalities equally. Folks usually work out some method of functional communication.

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