Freak Out Friday – November 10, 2017

So Trump is out of the country, bringing his demented style to Asia.

Are there things I could discuss? Sure. For instance, his capitulation to the Chinese government not to answer questions from the press. Chinese leader Xi Jinping has no more love for the press than Trump does. Typically when a US President visits with a Chinese leader, it provides an opportunity to press their feet to the fire of their media. But Trump, who constantly picks fights with the US media, was happy to accommodate them. Then again, when Obama first visited China, he likewise held no press conference, and years later a joint US/Chinese press conference required weeks of negotiation. So the Trump supporters will immediately point to that to support him.

And of course there’s the tax plan. Not only will it hurt the middle class (which according to the GOP is anyone earning around $150K) while providing breaks to Trump’s rich friends, but it may well include wording to do further damage to Obamacare by claiming that it’s all part of the tax plan. Since repeal and replace didn’t work because the GOP finally proved beyond a doubt that they had no plan with which to replace it, they’re now considering sticking an addendum to the tax plan that would eliminate the individual mandate, an essential part of Obamacare. That would likely doom it since the Democrats are united against that and it’s failed in the Senate twice. So if they’re smart they won’t do it. If they’re smart.

Let’s not forget Roy Moore, the aspiring Senator who was so much like Trump that even Trump didn’t support him (even though he subsequently admitted that might have been a mistake.). It appears Moore likes his girls way too young, according to the Washington Post.. His office attempted to dismiss the claim by stating that Moore has been married to the same woman for thirty three years. That’s nice. That would mean he got married at the age of 37, and since the accusations occurred when he was in his early thirties, that’s of no relevance. Politicians who already dislike him are claiming he should withdraw from the election. But Moore won’t do that; he’ll just deny it happened, his supporters will declare it’s fake news, and this statutory raping bastard will wind up in the Senate. Good luck finding someone who’ll work with him.

But I really have to say that what blistered me most this week was Trump’s supporters. My God, I am so damned sick of them.

No, we can’t have gun control because it’s all a mental issue. Right, that’s why Trump has done everything possible to get rid of support for the mentally ill.

Here’s the best: there’s no point in adding more anti-gun laws because the ones we have now aren’t working. That is the single most idiotic defense I’ve heard yet. Because if you take that bizarre argument to its logical conclusion, we should do away with laws against assault and battery, and robbery, and murder, because all those crimes still occur. So why not eliminate all those and just plunge the country into anarchy where everyone has to have guns because there are no policemen to enforce the law, since there is no longer law. I mean, I get that politicians will do nothing because they’re afraid of the NRA, but how can ordinary citizens–the majority of whom approve the idea of increased background checks–defend the idea of doing nothing to try and scale back gun violence? Australia did it. Japan did it. Gun-related death tolls in Japan are the tiniest fraction of what it is in the US. Why are we the only developed nation with such a vast percentage of mass shootings? And why do these demented Trump supporters continue to sit with their heads in the sand and say, “No gun laws?”

It may well be the same internal lack of logic which allows them not to see Trump’s lies for what they are. Their defense is always, “Well, Hillary lied!” Yes, Hillary lied. So did Obama. So did Bill Clinton. So did George W. Bush…he lied us into wars that are still going. But nobody’s lies, none of them, compare to Trump’s. There’s an old joke that you can tell when (fill in person’s name) is lying: his lips are moving. This is quite literally Trump. He lies in his speeches, in his press conferences, in his tweets. He lies more than any other politician in modern history. And when this is pointed out to his supporters, their response is always the same: other politicians lie, too. Because when someone points out something irrefutable, rather than defend it, the preferred tactic is to deflect it by saying, “Yeah, but what about this?” Its a whole movement called “whataboutism” that seemed to begin with, appropriately enough, the Russians. Trump thoroughly embraced it during the campaign (“The Russians kill people!” “Yeah, well, the US kills people, too.”) and has thoroughly refined it during his presidency (“Trump’s people colluded with Russia!” “Yeah, well, why aren’t they going after Hillary Clinton! She sold Uranium!”) Indeed, he’s raised “Whataboutism” to an art form: whenever he is accused of anything, he brings up an irrelevant topic and distracts people over to that. “Sure, Mueller is closing in on me, but hey, what about those disrespectful football players!” And his followers and Fox News take to the skies and start hammering away at the NFL until the thing Trump wants to go away fades with the news cycle.

I just find myself wondering how Americans can be so stupid. I just don’t get it. It used to be that you could talk to people on the other side of the aisle and have respectful conversations, spirited debate that stuck to the issues. No more. Now the right always seizes upon deficiencies by the left–real or imagined, accused and long ago debunked–to defend the things that their own people do. I’ve never gotten a reasonable answer to the question of why you would point to the actions of those you hate to justify the things you do. We on the left want to act in the opposite manner from the right; why do conservatives grab liberal actions as justification? We want to be better than them; why wouldn’t they want to be better than us? When Obama or Clinton (either one) would do something stupid, no one ever pointed to the actions of W. or his dad and said, “Well, they did something stupid too, so that makes it okay!” Instead we criticized them. Why can’t Trump’s supporters ever criticize him?

It’s insane.

PAD