Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/08/15/white-house-cant-guarantee.html
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Nobody can prove a negative.
I can’t guarantee that there’s not video of me stripped naked, smeared with blue paint and vaseline, running down The Mall waving a bell and a flag that says “Porcupines Deserve Pots and Pans”.
But I can say that it’s highly unlikely. I have no recollection of ever doing that. I have no idea why I’d do that. It took some time to conjure up such a strange image. It’s inconsistent with my previous actions and words. (I’m more of a wombat man, as many can attest.)
Nobody’s asking for a guarantee. We’re asking for words and actions that would make us NOT BELIEVE IT.
As such, we should leave it to each person to decide whether or not such a tape of Trump exists - and whether or not it would accurately reflect his character.
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At least she didn’t straight up say something that could be later proven to be a a lie? That’s progress, right? One small ethical step in the right direction.
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There are enough samples of Trump talking that a real fake could be generated of him saying anything.
Lots of us are certain Trump is a racist. When the tape comes out, Trump will call it fake, people like me will say “this is a surprise /s” and his supporters will either be happy or shrug it off because at least he’s fixing the supreme court for the next generation.
So while this is good for ad views on Boing Boing, in the end it won’t matter.
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As usual, everyone thinks this will destroy him. It’s more likely to normalize the word again for all the white people who use it under their breath anyway
Faced with the obviousness of the catastrophe, there are those who become indignant and those who take note, those who denounce and those who get organized. We are on the side of those who get organized.
- Tiqqun, Call
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It’s especially difficult to prove a false negative.
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Obviously, this is dog whistle politics: Trump wants the people in his segment to think the tape exists, because that way they’ll be sure to vote for him.
On the other hand, the people who are horrified by the very idea won’t be voting for him anyway.
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That’s exactly right. What difference would a tape make?
On the other hand, if a tape came out where he was defending a black woman against racists, that could end his political career. The people that think he’s racist still wouldn’t support him and of the people that do support him, he would probably lose half.
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Actually I don’t think asking for a guarantee is an unreasonable request. I can guarantee there aren’t any recordings of me using that word.
If someone asks you “is there video footage of you molesting children?” you should be able to give a better answer than “no guarantees.”
The question was not “might there be a tape that seems to show Trump using the N-word?”
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I’m just saying it doesn’t matter. Say there is (and I assume there is) - what would change?
When she says
if at any point we felt that the president was who some of his critics claim him to be, we certainly wouldn’t be here.
She means
if at any point we faced up to the reality that the president was who some of his critics claim him to be, we certainly wouldn’t be here, but we’re all too busy normalizing things to make them the new reality so we don’t have to face the current reality.
I hope you aren’t saying that Porcupines don’t deserve pots and pans.
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(yes, yes, miss tiggy-winkle is a hedghog, but that’s what came up when I googled “porcupine beatrix potter.” I had to adjust on-the-fly after my first attempt. btw DO NOT google “porcupine cooking” if you are looking for cute illustrations of anthropomorphized porcupines cooking in their little kitchens.)
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I agree with that, it won’t change anything because his supporters will continue to rationalize and normalize anything he says or does. I’m just saying that asking for a “no N-word guarantee” wouldn’t be holding him (or any public figure) to an unreasonable standard.
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They’re conditioning the public to expect him to be an enormous racist asshole. But will it really matter? There is a local radio station here in Salt Lake where one of the DJ’s truly believes if trump is heard uttering the ‘n’ word on tape, that will be when the establishment GOP turns on him. Really? All the other slandering handfuls of shit slinging from this administration was not enough? One word is going t turn the tide? I don’t think it will make god damned difference.
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The part I would really be suspect about is the shirt stating “Porcupines Deserve Pots and Pans”. Everything else I expect from you, and I don’t even know you.
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Donald Trump is the racist in this hypothetical.
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Exactly. Being racist is less risky to his political career than being not racist.
Is there a word for the opposite of racist?
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that just means they know he used the n-word, they just don’t know if the tape will come out
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