Tag Archives: don't be stupid

politicians, politics, Trump

If he told you to jump off a cliff, would you do it?

Happy MLK Day, y’all. Most years, Bill and I spend this weekend on a quick getaway somewhere. Last year, we went to Alsace, just as we did in 2017. The year before that, we went to The Netherlands. The year before that, Rothenburg ab Tauber. In 2016, we stayed local because I had dental implant surgery, but in 2015, we were in Hamburg. And in 2014, we were in Madrid. I miss traveling. I miss having a normal life.

I am not under any delusion that if Hillary Clinton had won the election in 2016, I’d be traveling somewhere nice. COVID-19 is a plague that is affecting almost everyone around the world. And I live in Germany, anyway, so Trump’s inept bullshit regarding the virus doesn’t really affect me personally. However, I am affected by watching the aftermath of the 2020 elections, which he lost. And I gotta say, I am absolutely gobsmacked by what some of his followers are saying and doing in the wake of the riots at the Capitol, which happened on January 6th, 2021.

I’ll start with the most vocal one. Texas real estate agent, Jenna Ryan, who proudly posed for photos and videoed herself before breaching the Capitol twelve days ago, is now having to face the consequences of her actions. The 50 year old businesswoman, who took a private plane to Washington, DC at the behest of her “president”, is clamoring for a pardon from Trump. Why? Because she says she was just following his orders.

“I listened to my president. He told me to go to the Capitol. I’m facing a prison sentence…”

Uh… so you thought you could go to Washington, DC, talk a bunch of shit as you videoed yourself breaching the Capitol, and not face ANY consequences? That just seems really dumb. Donald Trump is not God. He’s not above the law. You BROKE the law. You’re an adult, and I presume, completely sane. You sound perfectly sane in your interview. What the hell did you think was going to happen? And now you’re asking for a pardon? The mind boggles.

Was she under the influence of anything besides her own free will?

Well, Jenna, you lost a lot besides your mind when you decided this was a good idea. Looks like you’re going to lose your privacy, your business, your reputation, and probably your freedom. Ultimately, this stunt didn’t do anything for Trump, and he only rewards people who do something for him or give him money. All you did was make an enormous ass of yourself. Would you jump off a cliff if Trump told you to? Would you drink poisoned Kool-Aid? Give Trump a blow job and let him grab you by the pussy? It’s insane!

Should these people be pardoned for acting like thugs? I think not.

Next is our old friend, Jacob Chansley, aka the QAnon Shaiman, whose lawyer, Al Watkins, claims that Trump is at fault for his client’s arrest. Mr. Chansley, 33, is an unemployed actor who had been making a name for himself by attending Trump rallies in full facial makeup and costume, complete with horns. Chansley’s lawyer said, “[Chansley] loved Trump, every word. He listened to him. He felt like he was answering the call of our president.”

And now that Chansley is behind bars, albeit enjoying the organic diet he requested, Mr. Watkins is saying that Donald Trump should pardon him. Because apparently, Chansley, who hasn’t been a minor in many years, was in Washington, DC at the invitation of Donald Trump, wasn’t violent, didn’t cross any police lines, and didn’t assault anyone. However, he did allegedly leave an ominous note for Mike Pence that read:

“it’s only a matter of time, justice is coming.”

And that note was left as rioters screamed “Hang Mike Pence” and actually erected a gallows in view of the Capitol. How are we supposed to take that evidence? Are we to believe it was all just an act, meant to intimidate or serve as theater of the absurd? Does Jacob Chansley have the ability to dress himself and make basic decisions on his own behalf? Based on the excuses made by his lawyer, I can only conclude that Mr. Chansley is a simple-minded fool who has fallen under the the powers of a cult leader. And if Donald Trump is a cult leader, it’s definitely true that he’s a danger to the country. But Chansley got his mommy to complain about the food in jail and he’s getting his lawyer to blame Trump for his client’s ill-considered, irrational, and irresponsible actions.

This guy was addicted to crack. Now he’s acting like he’s been drinking Trump’s Kool-Aid.

And finally, there’s the MyPillow guy, Mike Lindell, who went to see Trump over the weekend and was carrying notes that mentioned the words “martial law”. Lindell claims that he wasn’t suggesting martial law as a last ditch attempt to keep Trump in power. He says he was carrying notes from a lawyer. Lindell says he has “definitive proof” that the election was fraudulent. What utter bullshit. Why is his “proof” more valid than the opinions of others, many of whom would be more in the know than a pillow salesman?

Fuck this guy.

I keep seeing conservatives commenting about how Biden will enact “martial law”. And yet Mr. MyPillow has actually discussed that with Donald Trump. As for fraud, it should be pointed out that Trump is no stranger to it himself. Several months ago, I read a book written by Trump’s former attorney, Michael Cohen, who related the story of how he was tasked to artificially inflate Trump’s votes in a poll run by CNBC. Cohen got John Gauger, who owns an information technology firm and is (or was) the chief information officer at Liberty University ahead of Trump’s election. Gauger was paid lots of money to manipulate the results of online polls in favor of Trump to boost his reputation and soothe his ego.

If Trump is capable of hiring someone to manipulate the results of polls run by news organizations, doesn’t it stand to reason that he’s capable of cheating in elections, too? Especially when the stakes are extremely high, as they are in his case? Because when Trump exits the White House on Wednesday, he will be vulnerable to charges brought against him by the state of New York. Trump can’t pardon himself from charges brought by states; his ability to pardon only extends to federal charges.

Trump says the other side “cheats”, but there’s a lot of evidence that Trump is the one who cheats… not just in online polls, but on his wives, and yes, in elections. He lost even though he cheated by screwing with the postal system and riling up the masses.

Unfortunately, trying to talk to Trump enthusiasts about these glaringly obvious discrepancies is like talking to the moon. They are absolutely certain that their leader is honest, forthright, and will save them from their own poor decisions. So much for the personal responsibility crowd, eh?

While I could be wrong and Trump will show compassion and mercy to folks like Jenna Ryan and Jacob Chansley, my guess is that they made these grand gestures that ultimately failed for naught. They will not get anything from Trump. He doesn’t care about them. If their actions had been successful, maybe he would have rewarded them… but most of the sane folk know that the mob that attacked the Capitol on January 6th was unorganized, undisciplined, and unintelligent. And all they did was do a lot of vandalizing and virus spreading. I shudder to think how many people caught COVID-19 at that event.

I think Jenna and Jacob and others who have been arrested are simply going to have to face the music. They will probably spend time behind bars. They will probably pay big fines. They will lose businesses, jobs, family members and friends, and for what? A man who wouldn’t think twice about grabbing them or their female loved ones by the pussy because “he’s a star”. And that’s exactly why he won’t do shit for them. Sad.

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Trump

Be careful when you play “Follow the Leader”…

Maybe COVID-19 will be Trump’s downfall… If it is, I would consider that a silver lining to a real nightmare. I am blessed not to have to listen to Trump, since we don’t get local TV and I don’t click on videos in which Trump speaks. I do see the neverending news articles about him… the dumb things he says and asinine things he does… and people who listen to him and do things that make them sick or kill them.

Did you see the news article about that couple in Arizona who drank fish tank cleaner because Trump mentioned chloroquine phosphate as a potentially promising cure for the virus? The couple heard Trump touting this chemical– calling it a “game changer”– and decided they should use it. I’m not sure if they even had the virus, or if it was simply something they decided to do as a prophylactic measure. The fish tank cleaner poisoned them. Husband went into cardiac arrest and wife wound up in critical condition, but is expected to survive.

I posted about this on my Facebook page, and one of my friends who rarely misses a chance to be a Trump apologist, posted this:

Trump is probably right on the malaria drug. It’s irrelevant. He didn’t tell people to pre medicate. These are the same people that eat tide pods. 

I am glad there are promising treatments. Good news right now is a great thing.

To which I responded:

I don’t see anyone here blaming Trump for their stupidity, although I don’t think he should be talking about such things. He’s not an expert on anything healthcare related, especially treatments for the COVID-19 virus.

For better or worse, Trump is a role model to many people who aren’t very deep thinkers. If he were a decent person, he’d realize that. But he’s not, so he won’t… and apologists will talk about how it’s not his responsibility that people who make up his base listen to what he says and act accordingly… sometimes with disastrous results.

Like it or not, when someone becomes a world leader, there will be people out there who will listen to what he or she says. If the leader is a good one– someone who is compassionate, intelligent, decent, humane, and reasonable, it’s not a bad thing to follow the leader. If a leader is greedy, corrupt, dishonest, narcissistic, and irresponsible, following the leader can be fraught with danger. Donald Trump isn’t a good leader. From day one, he’s been making choices that only benefit a small segment of society– people who are filthy rich and politically powerful.

Meanwhile, his base, which consists of a lot of people who may be basically good, but terribly misguided, are listening to what he says and making bad decisions like drinking fish tank cleaner. I have already written about Trump supporters who have done really dumb things. Last year, someone got pissed off at me because I wrote about two guys who were sitting around drinking beer when they decided to don a bullet proof vest and shoot each other. I commented that I could tell they were Trump supporters. I found them on social media, and sure enough, I was right.

I just checked the Facebook page of one of those guys. He’s still posting praises for Donald Trump while lambasting “communism” and “socialism”. He still thinks Donald Trump is awesome, despite the fact that Trump has made some very embarrassing and improper decisions in his handling of the COVID-19 virus crisis. This guy and his buddy, who chose to shoot each other with a rifle while drinking, are exactly the type of people I’m writing about. Just like the couple in Arizona who listened to the president, much to their detriment, the gun wielding beer drinker thinks Trump is infallible. Can you see how taking that attitude can be dangerous to one’s health or even end one’s life? Edited to add: Charles Ferris got sentenced to 27 days in jail for his part in the bullet proof vest/gun stunt.

I don’t necessarily blame Donald Trump when people make bad decisions. It’s just that I notice that people who make really stupid decisions are overwhelmingly Trump supporters. They lack critical thinking skills and seem to have trouble making choices that are in their own best interests. Yesterday, someone posted this on Facebook. It made a lot of sense to me, so I decided to share it. I’m sharing it here, too.

Now, I’m not necessarily a Bernie Sanders fan. I like some of his ideas, but I don’t know that they’re practical. I also think that his election would be dangerous to my husband’s career. However, I do agree that a lot of Trump supporters are hypocrites. Right now, people are in real trouble. Many people can’t work, which means businesses are losing money. Stocks are down, and people are worried about getting sick and dying, or losing everything and being tossed into the street. So folks are calling on the government for help. And Trump is offering $1200 per person. It’s a one shot deal that will help a little bit. However, he’s also calling for everything to get back to normal next month. I don’t see it happening.

Other governments are doing a lot more to take care of their citizens, while Trump wastes time discounting the virus and dickering with New York State over ventilators. He seems to lack the critical insight that we must all work together to get past this pandemic. He’s only concerned about big business and keeping the economy rolling. Why? Because a lot of voters can look past his disgusting misanthropy if it means they have a little extra money in their paychecks and he says things that make them feel empowered and vindicated. People like Charles Ferris, who thinks Trump is “da fuckin’ man”, have no thought for anyone who isn’t him or his. But when shit starts to affect him personally, I think he could end up changing his tune. Sooner or later, most people do.

Just for shits and giggles, here’s what is publicly posted on that beer drinking, gun toting, Trump worshipper’s Facebook page:

  • This one especially gives me pause… has he taken a look at Trump’s history?

Yeah… I know not all Trump supporters are this dense, but a lot of them are. Even as a businessman, Trump isn’t particularly successful. He inherited his money and played dirty to make more of it. He has no personal honor, and if not for that inherited money, probably would have been a failure. Although narcissists are very good at hitching themselves to successful people and riding coattails… so I don’t know. They’re sniveling ass kissers when they need to be– just long enough to get ahead. Beyond that, fuck everyone else. And people are attracted to them because they are charismatic. Spend some time around people like Trump and you can quickly spot the signs. Spending time with narcissists is kind of like getting a vaccine, especially when they are as grandiose about their narcissism as Trump is. The stupid fall for it repeatedly… although in fairness, many politicians are narcissistic. I think Trump is at the top of the heap, and that enthralls his base. Such a shame.

I just hope more people wise up and take an interest in their own well-being. Trump is not good for America… even those who have drunk the Kool-Aid and make up his base. But maybe COVID-19 could be a good thing in the long run. I often like to say that every cloud has its silver lining. Some good comes out of almost every situation… even if it’s just a cautionary tale. Many people will die because of this scourge, but a lot of people will also be born. Medical science will advance out of necessity, and there will probably be some progressive policy changes… and if a few hearts and minds are changed to be more humane, that’s also a good thing. So I’m hoping for the best. I hope you are, too.

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