Blog Betty (Thomas Friedman is a Great Man was an online novel): Trump and The Trots

Thursday, October 24, 2024

Trump and The Trots

BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX & THOMAS FRIEDMAN IS A GREAT MAN & ANN'S MEGA DUB & THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS & THE COMMON ILLS -- THE KOOL AID TABLE

1990S PROFESSIONAL MODEL STACEY WILLIAMS CAME FORWARD TODAY TO ANNOUNCE CONVICTED FELON DONALD TRUMP ASSUALTED HER IN 1992. THESE REPORTERS -- MUST CREDIT BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX & THOMAS FRIEDMAN IS A GREAT MAN & ANN'S MEGA DUB & THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS & THE COMMON ILLS -- CORNERED TRUMP IN THE MEN'S ROOM AT MUNCH A LUNCH IN TEMPE ARIZONA.

THE FELON HAD ORDERED THE CHILI SOUP WITH EXTRA ONIONS AND EXTRA CHEESE DESPITE THE FACT THAT ONIONS GIVE HIM THE RUNS AND DESPITE THE FACT THAT HE KNOWS ONIONS GIVE HIM THE RUNS.

BRAVING THE WORST ODOR WE'D EVER SMELT IN OUR LIVES, WE INTERROGATED HIM WHILE HE SAT HIDDEN BEHIND A STALL DOOR MOANING, GROANING AND GRUNTING.

WHAT DID YOU DO TO STACY WILLIAMS?

"WHO!" HE HOLLERED.

WE EXPLAINED WHO WHILE HE CONTINUED GRUNTING BETWEEN THE SOUNDS OF SQUIRTY LIQUID HITTING THE TOILET.

"LEAVE ME ALONE! LEAVE ME ALONE! WHY DID I EAT THE ONIONS! THIS ISN'T A CRAP! IT'S A BIRTH! GET ME A MID-WIFE!"

AS HE STRUGGLED TO BREATHE THROUGHT PAIN, THE FELON TOLD US THAT HE DIDN'T REMEMBER HER OR MOST OF THE WOMEN HE ASSAULTED AND THAT IT DIDN'T MATTER ANYWAY.

WHY IS THAT? -- WE ASKED HIM.

"OW! OW! MY CHILI HOLE! STUFF IS STILL COMING OUT AND IT BURNS! IT BURNS! MOMMY! MOMMY! IT BURNS!" GET ME A DOCTOR! GO FIND THE SECRET SERVICE AND TELL THEM TO GET ME A DOCTOR!"

WHY DOESN'T IT MATTER -- WE PRESSED.

"GET ME A DOCTOR!"

ANSWER THE QUESTION -- WE DEMANDED.

"BECAUSE -- OW! -- BECAUSE I CAN'T ASSAULT ANY WOMAN ANYMORE! IT'S NOT JUST THAT MY BIG GUT MEANS I CAN'T SEE MY TINY DICK! OW! OW! IT'S ALSO BECAUSE -- OW! I CAN'T GET IT UP ANYMORE!"

WHAT?

"OW! I CAN'T GET A BONER! I'M 78 YEARS OLD! IT SHOULDN'T BE THAT SURPRISING! I'M AN ELDERLY FAT GUTTED MAN! OW! GET ME A DOCTOR! GET ME A DOCTOR!"

PROMISING TO GET RIGHT ON THAT, WE LAUGHED AS WE WALKED OUT OF THE BATHROOM AND LEFT AN OUT-OF-ORDER SIGN ON THE DOOR.

FROM THE TCI WIRE:

Naomi Klein.

She was on DEMOCRACY NOW! yesterday and I have no idea why.

I do not need her discussing US elections.

I think with her especially that she's crossing a line.

Years ago, during the days of AIR AMERICA RADIO, she appeared on Al Franken's show. And Al, as usual, didn't know what he was talking about. The issue turned to travel -- specifically entering the US. And had that ever been a problem for Canadian Naomi Klein?

Her answer would have had great importance if she'd answered it -- if she'd answered it honestly. But she didn't. She avoided the issue.

Now the Iraq War was raging and some US service members were self-checking out. Jeremy Hinzman, Darrell Anderson, Joshua Key, Ivan Brobeck and many more.

And they needed support.

And, in Canada where they went, Naomi did support them. She'd sign a petition. She donated to a group.

And for some people that might be enough.

Excuse me for not being satisfied.

Naomi's father left the US due to Vietnam. He was a War Resister. And if Naomi had shared that -- especially on Al Franken's neoliberal show -- it could have made a difference in the way some saw the War Resisters.

Naomi had Canadian citizenship, yes, but being born to parents from the US, she also had US citizenship. So, no, Al Franken, Naomi didn't have trouble entering the United States.

That's the answer and that is why. But she wouldn't say that. She just dodged the question.

This was early 2005 and it would have made a difference.

But she didn't want to tell the truth. So we did here.

And I have never cared for her championing US politicians when elections rolled around.

I'm all for War Resisters and have helped many over the years. But you leave the country, then you leave the country. I've forever noted here that the US should not allow Cuban exiles into the US if the whole point is for them to use our country as a base to attack Cuba.

You're Cuban and you want to live here? Great. Welcome. You're an American now. Let's all get along.

But that's not happening if you're here feeding your resentment against Cuba. And that's true, for me, for any exile. Don't come to this country in order to plot against your country of origin.

Now on Naomi, should she be a US citizen?

I don't believe in dual citizenship. I've made that clear here for two decades. But her mother and her father elected to leave the United States. Why are we now, as a country, saying she's a citizen of the United States? I'm not trying to be rude or mean.

She didn't grow up here. (Her father can't return unless he wants to go to prison.)

I think Naomi is often exceptional. But I also believe in Ellen Goodman. In fact, I believe in the former BOSTON GLOBE columnist even more. She's smarter than so many and has a lot more common sense. She'd started out on the chat and chews -- those public affairs programs where they bring you and you end up weighing on everything.

But no one can weigh in on everything.

And she grasped that and stopped doing the chat and chews as a result.

No one can speak in an informed manner on every topic. When Texas Governor Greg Asshole went after Latino citizens, I noted here that I really wanted to avoid the topic and that I wanted to do that because I knew nothing about it. But then I'm looking around and left media -- independent media -- is avoiding the topic completely. My plan had been to just highlight reports on the topic. I was not qualified to comment on it. But to get qualified -- because no one, not even Juan Gonzalez, was weighing in -- I had to ask Texas community members to do a conference call with me, I had to talk to a member of the US Congress from Texas that I personally knew, I had to speak to one of the women targeted -- her home raided -- and then I still wanted another conference with community members in Texas and bothered poor Sabina with non-stop questions even after that.

So Naomi Klein appears on DEMOCRACY NOW! and she was there to talk about Gaza. And she's informed on that.

But then Amy wanted her to weigh in on the US presidential election.

Why?

She's not an expert on that. She doesn't live in the US. There are Americans who would argue she shouldn't have citizenship (including those who would make the argument -- I did not -- that the minute her father refused US military service and left the country, he should not have been able to pass on citizenship -- Naomi was born long, long after Vietnam). She's not qualified to speak on US electoral politics. She has no knowledge base. She has nothing worth sharing -- her 'tears of joy' on election night piece for THE PROGRESSIVE back in 2008 was nothing but political porn at its worst as she watched from a distance people that she could not hear speaking and people that she had never met became people that she just knew what they were thinking -- just knew it, really, really, really knew it! That's political porn -- the sort that James Wolcott rightly took Peggy Noonan to task for years ago.

Naomi made some general statement before sharing her concern: Kamala had abandoned her base!!!

STFU. Not since your bad book -- now out in soft cover -- where you didn't understand the concepts of twinship even though it went to the heart of your book's argument -- have you looked so stupid.

Kamala abandoned the base!!!!

Just f**k the hell off.

That is not what happened.

I tore Kamala apart over the wording of an answer she gave on Gaza to the media and I got a call from a friend in the administration stating I was attacking the only one defending Gaza. I noted that in a roundtable and I backed off from attacking Kamala. I didn't write about it here. I believed my friend but I didn't make the case for it here -- this was long before the Biden-Trump debate. And I went back and forth on the topic. Talk about it here in a snapshot and maybe risk outing the friend? Didn't want to do that. Nor did it really matter. Kamala was going to advocate in private but it wasn't going to have any real impact because that's all she could do. She was not the president. Nor is she today.

But what ended up happening is that she became the nominee. I'm glad she did. I think she'd be a great president. And I'm willing to hold her feet to the fire the same way I've done every other politician -- and journalist -- in the two decades this site has been up. If she becomes president, I'll hit hard. I don't pull punches. I like Naomi Klein but I don't pull punches on her.

So the Abandon Biden movement already existed. And then he stepped aside. And without taking a breath, it became Abandon Harris. And it became more and more nonsense and bulls**t -- to the point that these Gaza Freaks are now harming Palestinians because Americans are recoiling from the Gaza Freaks. So they trashed her in public and they attacked her for this and that. Including the nonsense of a speaker they wanted at the DNC convention.

Naomi may not know all this happened, she doesn't live in the US. But it happened. And electoral politics not being an area of expertise for her (campaign politics was a field of emphasis for me both as an undergraduate and as a graduate student), she may not understand how political conventions work in the US. I have no idea how they work in Canada. I wouldn't pretend to.

But the reality is that a spot to speak at a convention is a big deal and everyone wants it. An unknown would-be-US-Senator from Illinois got to speak at the 2004 convention -- Barack Obama -- but a sitting US senator, Hillary Clinton, who was not just a former First Lady but someone who repeatedly raised a lot of money for the Democratic Party was initially denied. No female politician or female activist was going to be allowed to speak in prime time. For those too young to remember, this was back in the day when Simon Rosenberg was advocating for Democrats to abandon support for abortion rights and for LGBTQ+ rights. Those of us who did believe in reproductive rights had to demand Hillary get to speak. This was a months long process.

And Hillary was a nationally known Democrat. She had star power.

So you idiots who thought you were going to elevate some woman who held a local office? You're idiots. You could have had six months to attempt that -- you didn't, you had about two weeks -- and it wouldn't have worked. You would been better off getting behind an activist for Palestinian rights -- an activist with a name which means Bella Hadid, for example. Even then, in two to three weeks, you wouldn't have achieved anything most likely. But you would have had a better shot with someone like Bella.

And it wasn't just that your local politician was an unknown on the national stage so she wouldn't have helped get viewers tuned it, it's also the jostling that takes place among the politicians who all want to be on stage and speaking in prime time. They would never had let your local politician onstage for that reason. They wouldn't want Bella on as well but they would have surrendered to the notion because Bella is news and attracts an audience.

But instead of grasping that they were pursuing a losing strategy, they trashed Kamala.

That's all they ever did.

Kamala doesn't have months, you idiots and assholes on the left. She had to assemble a team and get a campaign going in an instant. And she did that.

And she doesn't have time to woo people who say they won't vote for her.

Equally true, for all the lies from Amy Goodman and others, Gaza Freaks are not the base of the Democratic Party. They're not the base of anybody's party. I suspected that in July but we've spoken to groups in every state now except Alaska and Hawaii. And Gaza Freaks are on their own. (Gaza Freaks are not supporters of Palestinians. Supporters of Palestinians would be doing anything to keep Trump out of the White House. Gaza Freaks are purity freaks with infantile yet sterile minds.)

A lot of Republicans do not want Trump. That was clear in the primaries. That's an audience Kamala could pick some voters from. How many? I have no idea.

But if I were managing her campaign, I would've told her to forget the Gaza Freaks. No matter what she did, it was not enough for them. Acknowledging the suffering in Gaza in her convention speech and the need for a cease-fire didn't make the Gaza Freaks stop attacking her.

In a normal campaign, you'd be wasting your time trying to court those crybabies. In a much more limited campaign? She doesn't have the time. She'd be wasting her time based on the reality that nothing she has said has been good enough for these Gaza Freaks.

You have cut yourselves out of the conversation. That is on you.

A campaign is about winning votes. When all you did was attack the candidate, there's no reason for the candidate to try to woo you. Donald Trump's not going before LGBTQ+ audiences, seeking their votes. (Melania will speak to them provided they pay her at least $200,000 -- for her, that's campaigning).

You screwed yourselves out of a seat at the table.

Naomi's yammering away like an idiot because, on this topic, she is one. She doesn't understand electoral politics, she doesn't understand US politics, she doesn't live in the US and she's looking down from a cloud at those of us working our asses off to try to save our democracy and protect our citizens. Guess what, Naomi, we can't exit the US for Canada because we don't have dual citizenship, we don't have your privilege.

I'm not here to let reproductive rights suffer again. Every woman in the US should have the same medical options in every state. That's healthcare. My healthcare is not a 'state's right.' That's bulls**t. Every same-sex couple should have the same rights and that includes full citizenship. That awful case built on lies found the Supreme Court creating two kinds of citizenship -- full citizenship and second class citizenship. If you're straight, you can shop where you want and expect to be treated fairly. If you're gay or lesbian, you can be refused service. I'm not here to let our public education -- the thing that binds us together as citizens (it certainly isn't home schooling) -- fall apart because Trump wants to destroy the Dept of Education. I'm not here to let some racist rewrite history by refusing to allow future generations know about slavery and what a scar it left on our country and how much damage it did to people living under it. I'm not here so that Sabina, in Dallas, TX, a US citizen, has to worry that the police are going to come up to her when she goes to the Mercado on Jefferson and demand proof of citizenship and, if she doesn't have it on her, be pulled off the street.

I'm not here to watch Donald Trump achieve his goal of dismantling our Constitution.

I don't have the luxury of sitting this election out or the stupidity of voting for a con artist like Jill Stein.

I also am fully aware that the Palestinians are screwed if Trump gets back in the White House. 100% screwed.

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