“When people plan vacations, they usually avoid countries with soaring prices, random arrests on the street, and measles outbreaks,” a travel expert said.
And sadists, always acting out their narcissitic rage via cruelty. They are all so deprived in the essence of their very being. The only way they have to sustain their emptiness is to exert destructive power. We are looking at a group of sickos who have no capacity for self reflection, compassion, empathy. Everyone is an other who they itify . No sense of feeling like a human among humans. Humanity means nothing to them bc like trump they are destroyed and destructive pathetic, destructive, hateful, people. I can only imagine as a psychoanalyst and develomentalist what their early development was like. They are pathetic accommodators and cult followers.
In Trump's case, we know that his mother was in a mental hospital for quite a stretch when he was about 2 or 2-1/2. His detached father, a strange combo of sociopathy (eg, criminally under- and over-valuing his real estate properties for tax and borrowing purposes, respectively) and workaholism, didn't increase his scant presence at home to fill in. Most likely he also had no ability to empathize, a probable factor in Donald's mother's breakdown...
I believe that is not correct, I have researched Trump's mom and dad because his mother is a MacLeod, and I have tried to find a connection (couldn't), my sister was relieved, lol, She came from the same area of Scotland as my ancestors. She was definitely an immigrant, as was Donald's paternal grandfather. But I am willing to be proven wrong, hah.
They can all emigrate to Russia, North Korea, the Philippines ...Oh, that's right, they want everyone to look like them, be Christians, be white, and have all the women stay home and have a new baby every year. And a whole lot of poor people to look down on so they can bolster their own self esteem.
I named him "the Orange Sadist" during the repuglican debates in the summer of 2016. I was astounded how he took PLEASURE in humiliating the other candidates, and was furious that not one single moderator called him on it. In fact, NO ONE in the corporate media called him on it until 2025. I am a psychiatrist, and I GUARENTEE 100% (make that 1,000%) that this man is a sadist.
It's like those Germans who were (literally) in love with Hitler, cheering him on with great joy. Of course, like in the U.S., an enormous part of the German population disliked him, and some detested him.
And telling him what to do and how. His thinking is demented so he needs to be coached. And he Never plans ahead to contemplate any consequences of his actions.
I have a psychotherapy client who refers to him as “agent orange.” I’ll admit, it elicited a belly laugh from me! And I’m with you…while we can’t make absolute diagnostic statements about someone we haven’t evaluated, we can observe and name behaviors. He engages In behavior that clearly seems sadistic. He appears to check all the boxes for narcissistic PD and quite a few for antisocial PD. His apparent goal is to encourage us to hate each other, further weakening our nation - then take advantage of our weakness to install himself and his family in perpetuity.
Great name! And ironic, too, since he's pulling all funding away from military members who certain kinds of injury in battle (agent orange, PTSD, are two). I agree with what you wrote whole-heartedly. I believe that is the reason that Dr. Bandy X. Lee and others use the phrase "malignant narcissist". It's not in the DSM, but they say that it is the diagnosis that best fits him.
We were just in eastern Europe, including Germany. There are right wing groups… but everyone we met was totally against them. Several are going to move to another country if the right wing becomes stronger.
Aw, that's so sweet that you were a pug Mama! I get upset when people call the orange sadist -- and lots of others in his regime -- "pigs". Pigs are smart (think: Wilbur in "Charlotte's Web") and are in no way whatsoever similar to those monsters.
I thought the same when cameras showed him at his campaign rallies and he encouraged participants to hit-and-run attack others. Not surprised that he is in the Epstein files, and I'd make a guess that it included sadism, too.
What I don’t get is why grown adults are drawn to support someone with Trump’s qualities. I can only figure that they are as immature and lacking empathy as he is. This country is suffering from a psychopathy that is growing like a cancer.
What I don't get is why MAGA psychophants can't see how he is making life - not better - for the very people who can't make more money, get better jobs, bigger houses, etc... He hasn't kept a single promise or improved life for them. And he screws all his rich donors AFTER they give him money!
I think a large part of the problem is the way the now MAGots saw him on The Apprentice as this smart decisive businessman who in reality is anything but. If they get any news at all it's probably Fox, OAN or far right podcasts so now their delusions remain intact.
The Republicans are sub-huma and devoid of empathy mindlessly following their cult master who has Angry Dementia. Biden was executed in 2020 & replaced by a clone & Dems were running the show? REALLY Angry Dementia Don? He needs to be in an old folks mental institution! How fucking crazy off the rails do we have to wait for this cracker to be removed? Oh, wait! We have to wait until the king id dead. 🤬🤬🤬🤬😵💫
I read that as a young man, when he took a shower with other boys in his school, they mocked him about his genitals, calling him Raisinettes. If that is true, it sure explains a lot! Unfortunately for us, he is still that little boy.
I agree, Kandy; he is emotionally and intelligently immature. And if that's true about his genitals, I will never be able to eat raisins, or chocolate, again. :(
You mean about the raisinettes? It was actually on this platform. Someone said he actually heard it on Fox news in an interview with an unusually vulnerable Trump. Don't if it's true, but it sure would explain a lot.
He is of the firm belief that, if he belittles, demeans, insults, or hurts others, that makes him strong and therefore a winner. Where he ever to demonstrate compassion, kindness, or empathy, that would make him appear weak and a loser. That's how his warped psyche operates.
I did not mean to come across as arrogant. It is frustrating. I get so exhausted with attempts to explain that mean, cruel, lazy bastard and his sycophants and fellow thugs. And he he continues to flout and flaunt. And no accountability, no consequences
In addition to the rethuglicans who wish to kiss the hem of his garment, I'd say that the majority of arrogant so called justices on the Supreme Court have a lot to do with this horror show.
So true-during tRump’s first reign, my then 6 yr old granddaughter had a larger vocabulary than #45. Now at 15, she ‘bests’ him in most intellectual endeavors.
Agreed, Sandra Hardie -- AND agreed, Sandra Greer. Compassion and empathy must be taught to and encouraged in most kids -- it's estimated that only one-third are born with innate empathy. So yes, some kids do have compassion and empathy. But that means the big majority need to learn it. And if they don't grow up in home or school environments devoid of, let alone encouraging the development of, compassion and empathy, well, damn... that's how crappy or violent behaviors toward others can grow and flourish.
Interestingly, they are not the only political entity to screw up their country...have been listening to a fascinating and relevant podcast called 1865, which channels the players who attempted to destroy Reconstruction and the presidency of Ulysses S. Grant, who, at the time, was just about theis country's Last Honest Man. Unreal how this story parallels our times
Dr. Heather Cox Richardson continually relates history to current events and does a great job of it. Some of the things that are happening now are similar to what happened in the 1860s. and It was the reverse party. But it never ever got as bad as it is today with the idiots that are in power now
My son just finished reading Ron Chernow’s Grant biography, and says the same. He is keeping his sanity immersing himself in the era and pondering how tragic it is that Grant’s vision was lost on us.
where is Susie Wiles???? She was supposed to be the adult in the room, yet all this crazy sh*t keeps happening. Did she die? Did she move to Canada? Has she been kidnapped and is being held in a bunker underneath D.C.?
Hmmm, there was a Trump supporter who died of COVID I believe, a black guy - ran a pizza chain. Godfathers! That's it! See how it all fits together? The democrats need to open a Suegazi investigation.
I know, right? Myrmidons -- so obedient and loyal they'll do anything to please those in command. Very fitting term to describe this lot of spineless toadies.
If I weren't here already, I definitely wouldn't come here. And now he's investigating Biden? Doesn't he have presidential things to do? Things to make up? Clones of himself to build?
He seems to think he is still running for President. I've heard more about Biden from his cronies after the election than I did before. Didn't someone tell him that he won?
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Well, except for the fact that tRUMP DID NOT WIN -- he cheated his way into office via election rigging (with Musk's help, which the Rotting Orange gleefully admitted to on the news!!!), voter suppression, voter intimidation, and gerrymandering. Many Dem votes and votes by people of color and votes by people with foreign-sounding last names were literally discarded -- yes, physically thrown -- in the trash by vote counters, presumably Repugnicants. Fact-finding missions have found out that perhaps millions of votes were sabotaged, 5 or 6 million by some estimates. If all voting had been ethical and legal, Harris would have won. So yeah, Orange Shitler did try to say that he won by a huge majority, but he actually squeaked to the top, coming in at just 49.5% -- yeah, he didn't even manage 50% of the vote -- and he only did that by defrauding and cheating voters. And I want to know -- since we now know that millions of votes were sabotaged and ergo TRUMP IS ACTUALLY NOT OUR LEGITIMATE PRESIDENT -- what the peeps in power are doing about this besides clutching their pearls and wringing their widdle hannies? Come on! Evict that Orange Shithead from the White House!
Okay, Floofie, I concede the point that 47 is a lying, cheating sack of shit. I also freely admit that I try to read as little news as possible in order to maintain some sanity. It doesn't help that I keep my NYTIMES and Philadelphia Inquirer subscriptions so that I get constant updates all day while trying to read sci-fi, fantasy, and rom-com. And I stopped watching TV news, again to keep myself from falling off the ledge. TBR and Heather Cox Richardson do help with humor and reality checks. BTW, autocorrect kept changing your name to Flooring. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
"Hoist on his own petard" -- such a fitting descriptive phrase for the "flaming(ly) gaseous" Grand Poobah Orange Turd. May he jet propel himself to the outer limits of our solar system where he'll float in orbit around the distant sun until a stray comet takes him out -- and I don't mean to lunch!
Even a_ _holes serve a purpose for eliminating waste. Trump serves no purpose for anyone or anything but himself. The terrifying concern I have is how can we rid ourselves of this waste of a human being who is expanding his sh_t show on a daily, sometimes hourly basis.
100% agreed on all points made. Please ref my long comment somewhere above re what can we do about tRUMP. I say we need a grass rights movement demanding a recount since there is actual provable evidence that tRUMP did NOT win, but cheated his way into office via various voter sabotage methods. TRUMP IS NOT OUR PRESIDENT!
The problem is there are a lot of American assholes with no moral compass who think what he's doing so far is great. Chances are they fall into the cohort where 54% of Americans between the ages of 16-70 read below a sixth grade level.
My mom's family survived Nazi Germany. There absolutely were travel bans for the citizens, particularly as the war was going increasingly badly for the Nazis. My grandfather rightly saw what was coming and told the rest of the family to head west so that they would be in the American sector when things finally collapsed (they would have been arrested and probably executed if they'd been caught).
Fascist regimes always carry the seeds of destruction inside them. But all parts of this destruction are painful for anyone in the vicinity. A good and the evil suffer the same fate.
If we're living in a simulation, I have a bone to pick with the designers...
Yes, me too. I mourn the US that was -- though I'm trying to contribute to righting the ship. Kerfuffle seems too light & cute a word to describe this "Eve of Destruction," like what we're experiencing is a mere scuffle or a wee imbroglio. We're way beyond that or "shenanigans," as Chinese President Xi Jinping once called tRUMP's bad behaviors. We need a term that embodies the violence, chaos, pandemonium, destruction, uproar, assaults on and tearing apart of this country, all the stuff we're experiencing right now. Can't think of the right word -- ideas?
I like to use words like "kerfuffle" ironically to meant the exact opposite. It's a figure of speech. I do this when words like pandemonium, destruction, etc. can't convey the awfulness of what's happening. (Pandemonium is actually pretty accurate. It literally means "all the demons" and was the capital of Hell after the Fall. I don't think we're quite there yet - our local demons are still getting their feet under them. No doubt they will come up with new and inventive awfulness. Or maybe not. Hannah Arendt did say "evil is banal.")
The gleeful cruelty is the worst. That's what tips the scale for me from stupidity to evil.
We have our house on the market. We have lived in that house for 35 years, and never intended to leave. With the current situation, we decided that it's wisest to liquidate our assets in order to leave quickly if necessary. (My husband is Nepalese -- Tibetan Buddhist -- and our daughter is mixed-race with some serious medical problems. I'm not waiting until things get worse.) Now the question is: who will want us? I'm 72. Hoping Canada wants elderly doctors, currently retired in the U.S. Getting ready to look into it.
B.C. has recently updated their policies to FastTrack entry for US medical personnel. Contact the B.C. government in Victoria. Just maybe you can serve in some kind of consulting capacity. Best of luck and godspeed.
I've been to the Butchart Gardens in Victoria at least five times. I think it's my favorite place in the world. That I could go whenever I want -- not fly 3,000 miles -- would be amazing!
Yes! Canadians are compassionate and will embrace you and your family. Some of my family immigrated and they are pleased with the decision. Start the immigration paperwork - it will take a while.
Thank you so much. ((( ))) I remember as a child wondering why the Jews didn't leave Germany under Hitler. Of course as an adult I understood. There's no way to know how things will go, here, but I decided it was better to be ready.
I can identify with your last line, Kate. My father survived Nazi Germany as a “half-Jew.” No way was what’s happening here, the country that saved him, on my bingo card.
Both of my parents were Holocaust victims, Kate. Father, Poland and my mom, Berlin. I am currently trying to get dual citizenship for my sister, myself, and my two daughters through Germany. Ironic, isn’t it? Btw, my mother’s parents were gassed in 1942, in the gas camp known as Chelmno.
It's already happening, Heather. I was packing for a mere weekend offshore when ICE goons showed up and confiscated my suitcase. They deem Staten Island a danger for draining trumpty's native-born subjects.
Great riposte, but I hear that the brain drain is going into reverse and that businesses and universities will have to look to their pay scales as they turn to recruiting.
I read the new travel ban as T’s stepped-up attempt to prevent foreign students from coming to Harvard. Alas, foreign students, future Nobel laureates among them, may still want to come to the U.S. Without them, the shithole widens.
Andy, as you always say: everything you write is true. This one in particular. I just a had a series of message-conversations with friends and colleagues from other countries who normally come to the US in the summer to attend academic conferences and all of them are staying away this year. And I said to every single one of them, "Stay away. Your safety is far more important and I would fear for your safety were you to come here this year." I will see them less frequently, as I am going to have to travel instead, but I can rest assured that they won't end up in some ICE detention cage somewhere because they do things like write about gender issues in medieval literature. You can only imagine the rage and sorrow I feel right now.
I have been going to Germany annually but have lost all will to travel. The idea of being in an airport under this administration fills me with dread, for multiple reasons. (Not to mention the incessant questioning I’d get from the Germans, who have loathed Trump since 2015.) As an older white lady I’d likely be fine, but seeing this nation, the one that my father and uncles fought for to combat fascism, descend so easily and rapidly into Third Reich territory crushes my soul. Good for you that you can master this angst.
Jesus wept! You had me at your head line. The dogs and I bow our heads, wag some tails, in reverence. Do you know how much yr wit keeps me floating? Keeps all of us Borowitzers floating? Go Pacers. (I’m always good for a non-sequitor). Love you, Mousse!
And while wearing her Pinocchio Cross as per Jon Stewart. At least the liar was shamed into discarding it before her three digit number of lies burned into her chest and exploded. Progress?
Think I’d prefer Andy for president and Harland for VP. And the dogs would be infinitely better at filling any and all Cabinet positions. Present Cabinet Secretaries simply are place-holders.
It is literally unbearable what an asshole he is.
I have a notion that he thrives on hurting people--because it makes him feel more powerful.
No notion - of course he does! And the GOP as well! They are anti-America and anti-American.
And sadists, always acting out their narcissitic rage via cruelty. They are all so deprived in the essence of their very being. The only way they have to sustain their emptiness is to exert destructive power. We are looking at a group of sickos who have no capacity for self reflection, compassion, empathy. Everyone is an other who they itify . No sense of feeling like a human among humans. Humanity means nothing to them bc like trump they are destroyed and destructive pathetic, destructive, hateful, people. I can only imagine as a psychoanalyst and develomentalist what their early development was like. They are pathetic accommodators and cult followers.
I sense that people like bullies until they become the bullied.
Then the bullied get bullets! Sadly.
In Trump's case, we know that his mother was in a mental hospital for quite a stretch when he was about 2 or 2-1/2. His detached father, a strange combo of sociopathy (eg, criminally under- and over-valuing his real estate properties for tax and borrowing purposes, respectively) and workaholism, didn't increase his scant presence at home to fill in. Most likely he also had no ability to empathize, a probable factor in Donald's mother's breakdown...
I never heard that before. I think she was ill for some period of time, but mental hospital??
Read Mary Trump’s books about her family. She’s a psychotherapist too.
Can you cite a source for this "we know that his mother was in a mental hospital for quite a stretch when he was about 2 or 2-1/2."??
I believe that is not correct, I have researched Trump's mom and dad because his mother is a MacLeod, and I have tried to find a connection (couldn't), my sister was relieved, lol, She came from the same area of Scotland as my ancestors. She was definitely an immigrant, as was Donald's paternal grandfather. But I am willing to be proven wrong, hah.
But but but, they're "Christians"! /s
They can all emigrate to Russia, North Korea, the Philippines ...Oh, that's right, they want everyone to look like them, be Christians, be white, and have all the women stay home and have a new baby every year. And a whole lot of poor people to look down on so they can bolster their own self esteem.
I named him "the Orange Sadist" during the repuglican debates in the summer of 2016. I was astounded how he took PLEASURE in humiliating the other candidates, and was furious that not one single moderator called him on it. In fact, NO ONE in the corporate media called him on it until 2025. I am a psychiatrist, and I GUARENTEE 100% (make that 1,000%) that this man is a sadist.
and, KD, people continue NOT to call him out. Until that changes, he has his sycophants hanging on his every word and action.
It's like those Germans who were (literally) in love with Hitler, cheering him on with great joy. Of course, like in the U.S., an enormous part of the German population disliked him, and some detested him.
now we have fields of MAGA-ots, sweating in 100 degree fields, wearing bedazzled tRump t-shirts and hats, waving their bibles
And the question is: when will they decide that the heat is too much, and they want to come back inside their air-conditioned factories?
--which they never read.
Real nonsense! Not all Germans were or are Nazis. There is a difference!
Exactly! That's like saying all Americans are MAGA sycophants.
I wrote "the Germans" referring to the GROUP of Germans who followed him. I'll make the sentence read better. Thank you.
And telling him what to do and how. His thinking is demented so he needs to be coached. And he Never plans ahead to contemplate any consequences of his actions.
Contemplating consequences is something that requires maturity…
Absolutely! No maturity, no empathy.
...and will deny his comments (in spite of recordings).
Not a king, but the Emperor of Denial!
He says he goes by his gut and we all know what that produces.
Very clever! LOL!!!
And even then flies off-script with bizarre statements (e.g., West Point graduation)
Well that’s the press for you. Gawwd forbid they stand up to him and when they do, they get banned by the cross-bearing Leave-It.
Carlo-LIE
A SADIST FOR CERTAIN!
I have a psychotherapy client who refers to him as “agent orange.” I’ll admit, it elicited a belly laugh from me! And I’m with you…while we can’t make absolute diagnostic statements about someone we haven’t evaluated, we can observe and name behaviors. He engages In behavior that clearly seems sadistic. He appears to check all the boxes for narcissistic PD and quite a few for antisocial PD. His apparent goal is to encourage us to hate each other, further weakening our nation - then take advantage of our weakness to install himself and his family in perpetuity.
Great name! And ironic, too, since he's pulling all funding away from military members who certain kinds of injury in battle (agent orange, PTSD, are two). I agree with what you wrote whole-heartedly. I believe that is the reason that Dr. Bandy X. Lee and others use the phrase "malignant narcissist". It's not in the DSM, but they say that it is the diagnosis that best fits him.
Yes. It's hard not be awed by "little Marco's" sychophancy now. He seems to match or even exceed his boss's cruelty. The convert as fanatic?
We were just in eastern Europe, including Germany. There are right wing groups… but everyone we met was totally against them. Several are going to move to another country if the right wing becomes stronger.
God willing they are able to stay and defeat the monster in Russia. I completely understand the plan to leave, if things get worse.
Do you think that we can say that although people call him a narcissist he meets the diagnostic criteria for antisocial personality?
(For nonmedical folks antisocial personality is official jargon for sociopathy).
I agree completely but let’ not refer to republicans that way. Pugs are very nice dogs!
A friend of mine coined it in 2016 from the word "repugnant". No insult intended to sweet little pug dogs!
I figured. I’m just an over protective former pug person!
❤️
Aw, that's so sweet that you were a pug Mama! I get upset when people call the orange sadist -- and lots of others in his regime -- "pigs". Pigs are smart (think: Wilbur in "Charlotte's Web") and are in no way whatsoever similar to those monsters.
I thought the same when cameras showed him at his campaign rallies and he encouraged participants to hit-and-run attack others. Not surprised that he is in the Epstein files, and I'd make a guess that it included sadism, too.
Interesting thought: sexual sadism. He's been accused of multiple rapes of "free" women. Just imagine what he would do to girls who are trapped.
Or maybe he just liked watching, as he did at his rallies …
Malignant narcissist personality disorder. Deliberate cruelty is the point.
What I don’t get is why grown adults are drawn to support someone with Trump’s qualities. I can only figure that they are as immature and lacking empathy as he is. This country is suffering from a psychopathy that is growing like a cancer.
National psychopathology makes sense to me.
What I don't get is why MAGA psychophants can't see how he is making life - not better - for the very people who can't make more money, get better jobs, bigger houses, etc... He hasn't kept a single promise or improved life for them. And he screws all his rich donors AFTER they give him money!
I think a large part of the problem is the way the now MAGots saw him on The Apprentice as this smart decisive businessman who in reality is anything but. If they get any news at all it's probably Fox, OAN or far right podcasts so now their delusions remain intact.
That show was highly scripte
Reading was something he could do then.
Don’t forget the grandiose part!
👍
The Republicans are sub-huma and devoid of empathy mindlessly following their cult master who has Angry Dementia. Biden was executed in 2020 & replaced by a clone & Dems were running the show? REALLY Angry Dementia Don? He needs to be in an old folks mental institution! How fucking crazy off the rails do we have to wait for this cracker to be removed? Oh, wait! We have to wait until the king id dead. 🤬🤬🤬🤬😵💫
Be careful about calling anyone "sub-human". That's what the fascists themselves say about anyone they want to get rid of.
That's correct. The Nazi term for Jews, Gypsies, Slavs and the physically and mentally disabled was "Untermensch".
Mensch in Yiddish means “decent” so they mocked and killed Jews, gays, and gypsies because they were “indecent”. Daughter of Holocaust victims here.
Yes! It’s fun for a moment, but there are depths we should not sink to
Uhhh...while we swim above it all, someone
is draining our pool.
Mileage varies. I feel the panic too, but should we really adopt the authoritarian playbook?
Also someone is peeing in our pool.
or in isolation, in a padded cell. He does not deserve to live among human beings.
Even a clone of Trump would be better than the real thing!
The movie "Dave" comes to mind... Can we? Should we?
Yes, indeedy-do -- can AND should.
Hmmmm......
I'm beginning to see things exactly this way. There's no there there.
Think that's pretty obvious. What you'd expect from a tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny little man.
I read that as a young man, when he took a shower with other boys in his school, they mocked him about his genitals, calling him Raisinettes. If that is true, it sure explains a lot! Unfortunately for us, he is still that little boy.
Another deserving nickname for our Manchurian Cantaloupe!
If you collect all 100, they give you a free chicken taco or something.
Manchurian Mango?
I agree, Kandy; he is emotionally and intelligently immature. And if that's true about his genitals, I will never be able to eat raisins, or chocolate, again. :(
LOL!!! (I wish you hadn't said that!! Now I'm stuck with that image, too!)
And fucking daddy issues. I'm so sick of these guys with daddy issues!🤮
Where on earth did you read THAT!
You mean about the raisinettes? It was actually on this platform. Someone said he actually heard it on Fox news in an interview with an unusually vulnerable Trump. Don't if it's true, but it sure would explain a lot.
definition of sadism... he enjoys watching
TACO boy watches the aaaault on the Capitol, from a safe distance.
and hence, the TACO memes
yes, he's a bully, but instead of just one schoolyard, he has the whole damn country!
The whole world.
According to psychologists, the term for that trait is "malignant narcissism."
Absolutely! I was married to someone like that (briefly) who always put people down to bring himself up.
I'm sorry to hear that -- it's a really horrid thing. By your use of "was" I gather you got out, so yay for that!
He is of the firm belief that, if he belittles, demeans, insults, or hurts others, that makes him strong and therefore a winner. Where he ever to demonstrate compassion, kindness, or empathy, that would make him appear weak and a loser. That's how his warped psyche operates.
Yes, he absolutely loves that power!
Garden variety machismo. It’s pretty common, but this is a virulent strain.
Duh.
Duh
If only I were as smart as you.
I did not mean to come across as arrogant. It is frustrating. I get so exhausted with attempts to explain that mean, cruel, lazy bastard and his sycophants and fellow thugs. And he he continues to flout and flaunt. And no accountability, no consequences
In addition to the rethuglicans who wish to kiss the hem of his garment, I'd say that the majority of arrogant so called justices on the Supreme Court have a lot to do with this horror show.
Amen!!
The GOP seems to thrive on immaturity these days. They are running the country like a bunch of 10-year-old kids.
Please let's not compare them to children. It's an insult to kids who have more intelligence and empathy than these cruel ignorant destroyers.
So true-during tRump’s first reign, my then 6 yr old granddaughter had a larger vocabulary than #45. Now at 15, she ‘bests’ him in most intellectual endeavors.
(all?)
Yes, correct.
A houseplant bests him in intellectual endeavors and probably has 100 times his vocabulary.
--and with a naturally more beautiful appearance!
(more?)
My feelings as well - I teach 4-6 year olds and they would make a far superior administration to the present clown cult supposedly in charge.
And they share.
Not only mean, undemocratic people in office, but unintelligent, uncaring Whackos! No one in this administration
deserves a job in government.
I tend to say they act like a gang of single digit schoolyard bullies. I am very well acquainted with that type.
Even 10-year-old kids have compassion.
Agreed, Sandra Hardie -- AND agreed, Sandra Greer. Compassion and empathy must be taught to and encouraged in most kids -- it's estimated that only one-third are born with innate empathy. So yes, some kids do have compassion and empathy. But that means the big majority need to learn it. And if they don't grow up in home or school environments devoid of, let alone encouraging the development of, compassion and empathy, well, damn... that's how crappy or violent behaviors toward others can grow and flourish.
Some of them. Kids in general are quite cruel. I remember them quite well!
At least most 10 year olds know how to read and form complete sentences!
... and believe science!!
Interestingly, they are not the only political entity to screw up their country...have been listening to a fascinating and relevant podcast called 1865, which channels the players who attempted to destroy Reconstruction and the presidency of Ulysses S. Grant, who, at the time, was just about theis country's Last Honest Man. Unreal how this story parallels our times
Dr. Heather Cox Richardson continually relates history to current events and does a great job of it. Some of the things that are happening now are similar to what happened in the 1860s. and It was the reverse party. But it never ever got as bad as it is today with the idiots that are in power now
She is well worth following! Her parallels are spot on.
I love the way she weaves the blanket with what happened in the 1800’s with the present. She is on Trump’s list to be “silenced”.
My son just finished reading Ron Chernow’s Grant biography, and says the same. He is keeping his sanity immersing himself in the era and pondering how tragic it is that Grant’s vision was lost on us.
I don't know, I think 10-year-olds are much better than these fascists.
where is Susie Wiles???? She was supposed to be the adult in the room, yet all this crazy sh*t keeps happening. Did she die? Did she move to Canada? Has she been kidnapped and is being held in a bunker underneath D.C.?
Does Hillary have her in the pizza joint's basement?
it's possible, Al - they have the Secret Service guarding her, disguised as pizza makers
Hmmm, there was a Trump supporter who died of COVID I believe, a black guy - ran a pizza chain. Godfathers! That's it! See how it all fits together? The democrats need to open a Suegazi investigation.
“Suegazi” investigation, <snort laugh>
Do not insult 10-year-olds. They are way more compassionate, kind, and mature that TACO Don or his GQP/MAGAT cult myrmidons will ever be.
Thank you for giving me a new and wonderful word!
I know, right? Myrmidons -- so obedient and loyal they'll do anything to please those in command. Very fitting term to describe this lot of spineless toadies.
If I weren't here already, I definitely wouldn't come here. And now he's investigating Biden? Doesn't he have presidential things to do? Things to make up? Clones of himself to build?
Boasts of his accomplishments?
He seems to think he is still running for President. I've heard more about Biden from his cronies after the election than I did before. Didn't someone tell him that he won?
Didn't he say he won by a huge majority? Oh, right. That was another freaking lie. He won by a teeny, tiny amount, just like Stormy Daniel's said...
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Well, except for the fact that tRUMP DID NOT WIN -- he cheated his way into office via election rigging (with Musk's help, which the Rotting Orange gleefully admitted to on the news!!!), voter suppression, voter intimidation, and gerrymandering. Many Dem votes and votes by people of color and votes by people with foreign-sounding last names were literally discarded -- yes, physically thrown -- in the trash by vote counters, presumably Repugnicants. Fact-finding missions have found out that perhaps millions of votes were sabotaged, 5 or 6 million by some estimates. If all voting had been ethical and legal, Harris would have won. So yeah, Orange Shitler did try to say that he won by a huge majority, but he actually squeaked to the top, coming in at just 49.5% -- yeah, he didn't even manage 50% of the vote -- and he only did that by defrauding and cheating voters. And I want to know -- since we now know that millions of votes were sabotaged and ergo TRUMP IS ACTUALLY NOT OUR LEGITIMATE PRESIDENT -- what the peeps in power are doing about this besides clutching their pearls and wringing their widdle hannies? Come on! Evict that Orange Shithead from the White House!
Okay, Floofie, I concede the point that 47 is a lying, cheating sack of shit. I also freely admit that I try to read as little news as possible in order to maintain some sanity. It doesn't help that I keep my NYTIMES and Philadelphia Inquirer subscriptions so that I get constant updates all day while trying to read sci-fi, fantasy, and rom-com. And I stopped watching TV news, again to keep myself from falling off the ledge. TBR and Heather Cox Richardson do help with humor and reality checks. BTW, autocorrect kept changing your name to Flooring. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Boy howdy, do I hear that! And re Flooring -- that's hilarious!!! I've also heard Floozie, which may or may not be correct (I'm not telling).
It's the running part that he likes. The doing is nowhere near as much fun.
He isn't capable of "doing"!
There's always golf.
(Real, actual, existing) Studies have shown that revenge lights up the reward centers on the brain. The current president is an addict
An addict of revenge and god knows what else!
Good point. If he could have clones made of himself, that’s what he’d be doing for all the obvious, outrageously narcissistic reasons.
Possibly, but as a counterpoint, wouldn’t clones distract from all attention all the time being trained on him?
Asshole indeed. Evil, cruel deadly dangerous mangy swamp creature.
What is unbearable is that Americans made him President. Perhaps it is time for another insurrection.!
And yet, we soldier on. Ugh. I'm tired of soldiering for a plump orange lump.
(fat? lard? "fat orange lard?")
A flaming gaseous one!
"Hoist on his own petard" -- such a fitting descriptive phrase for the "flaming(ly) gaseous" Grand Poobah Orange Turd. May he jet propel himself to the outer limits of our solar system where he'll float in orbit around the distant sun until a stray comet takes him out -- and I don't mean to lunch!
There is no bottom to his pit of depravity. None whatsoever.
Even a_ _holes serve a purpose for eliminating waste. Trump serves no purpose for anyone or anything but himself. The terrifying concern I have is how can we rid ourselves of this waste of a human being who is expanding his sh_t show on a daily, sometimes hourly basis.
100% agreed on all points made. Please ref my long comment somewhere above re what can we do about tRUMP. I say we need a grass rights movement demanding a recount since there is actual provable evidence that tRUMP did NOT win, but cheated his way into office via various voter sabotage methods. TRUMP IS NOT OUR PRESIDENT!
Nothing literal about him.
Ginny please I am appealing to you attorney (retired) to attorney please do not insult assholes.
Agreed -- see Sassy Sue comment: "Even a_ _holes serve a purpose for eliminating waste." Yucky, but true. How's about asswipe instead?
The problem is there are a lot of American assholes with no moral compass who think what he's doing so far is great. Chances are they fall into the cohort where 54% of Americans between the ages of 16-70 read below a sixth grade level.
Wait till he tries to stop us from leaving —
BUILD THE WALL
Mexico might build the wall and make US pay for it!
<golf clap>
# 2 in the hierarchy.
Canada, under PM Carney, is certainly beefing up their border security to keep us out.
can you blame them?
No! I admire them!!
To keep us out? 😉
Yes.
My mom's family survived Nazi Germany. There absolutely were travel bans for the citizens, particularly as the war was going increasingly badly for the Nazis. My grandfather rightly saw what was coming and told the rest of the family to head west so that they would be in the American sector when things finally collapsed (they would have been arrested and probably executed if they'd been caught).
Fascist regimes always carry the seeds of destruction inside them. But all parts of this destruction are painful for anyone in the vicinity. A good and the evil suffer the same fate.
If we're living in a simulation, I have a bone to pick with the designers...
Reminds me of how America was once a beacon for the world. Makes the present kerfuffle so much more painful.
That was 6 months ago. We have had several simultaneous tsunamis since then. Such destruction!
Tragic. Truth.
Now, we're an example of what not to do!
Yes, me too. I mourn the US that was -- though I'm trying to contribute to righting the ship. Kerfuffle seems too light & cute a word to describe this "Eve of Destruction," like what we're experiencing is a mere scuffle or a wee imbroglio. We're way beyond that or "shenanigans," as Chinese President Xi Jinping once called tRUMP's bad behaviors. We need a term that embodies the violence, chaos, pandemonium, destruction, uproar, assaults on and tearing apart of this country, all the stuff we're experiencing right now. Can't think of the right word -- ideas?
I like to use words like "kerfuffle" ironically to meant the exact opposite. It's a figure of speech. I do this when words like pandemonium, destruction, etc. can't convey the awfulness of what's happening. (Pandemonium is actually pretty accurate. It literally means "all the demons" and was the capital of Hell after the Fall. I don't think we're quite there yet - our local demons are still getting their feet under them. No doubt they will come up with new and inventive awfulness. Or maybe not. Hannah Arendt did say "evil is banal.")
The gleeful cruelty is the worst. That's what tips the scale for me from stupidity to evil.
Yes, and the Statue of Liberty flame is no longer
We have our house on the market. We have lived in that house for 35 years, and never intended to leave. With the current situation, we decided that it's wisest to liquidate our assets in order to leave quickly if necessary. (My husband is Nepalese -- Tibetan Buddhist -- and our daughter is mixed-race with some serious medical problems. I'm not waiting until things get worse.) Now the question is: who will want us? I'm 72. Hoping Canada wants elderly doctors, currently retired in the U.S. Getting ready to look into it.
B.C. has recently updated their policies to FastTrack entry for US medical personnel. Contact the B.C. government in Victoria. Just maybe you can serve in some kind of consulting capacity. Best of luck and godspeed.
Yes! This^^^^^!
Thank you for that information!!! A post-er from BC said, "Please come here! We will welcome you with open arms!" Interesting.
GO! It's a beautiful place.
I've been to the Butchart Gardens in Victoria at least five times. I think it's my favorite place in the world. That I could go whenever I want -- not fly 3,000 miles -- would be amazing!
so sad, and I'm sorry, that its come to this . . . how quickly one person, with enablers, can destroy an entire country
Yes! Canadians are compassionate and will embrace you and your family. Some of my family immigrated and they are pleased with the decision. Start the immigration paperwork - it will take a while.
So sorry you feel this way. Best wishes to you
and your family.
Thank you so much. ((( ))) I remember as a child wondering why the Jews didn't leave Germany under Hitler. Of course as an adult I understood. There's no way to know how things will go, here, but I decided it was better to be ready.
Hugs and best wishes to you and your family! Can you contact Canadian Embassy regarding: asylum?
We aren't candidates for asylum, I wouldn't think, at least at this point. Thank you so much for your wishes and hugs!!!
Very sad that it's come to this, but I think Canada could be your safe haven. Warm regards & hopes and best of luck to you and your family.
((( ))) (P.S. I love your name. I always smile when I see it!)
I can identify with your last line, Kate. My father survived Nazi Germany as a “half-Jew.” No way was what’s happening here, the country that saved him, on my bingo card.
Both of my parents were Holocaust victims, Kate. Father, Poland and my mom, Berlin. I am currently trying to get dual citizenship for my sister, myself, and my two daughters through Germany. Ironic, isn’t it? Btw, my mother’s parents were gassed in 1942, in the gas camp known as Chelmno.
The irony would be jaw-dropping, were the situation half-way normal.
Ah, the Matrix!
It's already happening, Heather. I was packing for a mere weekend offshore when ICE goons showed up and confiscated my suitcase. They deem Staten Island a danger for draining trumpty's native-born subjects.
!!! Tell us more?
We need to set the cartoonists loose on that scene!
What??!!
Really!!??
No, L.R.!! WTF????????? Please tell me that it ain't so!!
Dear Floof and the rest of you incredulous darlings, look at this face. Would this face fib to you? Of course not.
(she said cautiously) So then...........?
Floof! You're twisting my arm just as the ICE apes did.
Ai-i-i-i-i-i!! Mea culpa! Vey iz mir!
Or other countries stop letting us in....
Great riposte, but I hear that the brain drain is going into reverse and that businesses and universities will have to look to their pay scales as they turn to recruiting.
I read the new travel ban as T’s stepped-up attempt to prevent foreign students from coming to Harvard. Alas, foreign students, future Nobel laureates among them, may still want to come to the U.S. Without them, the shithole widens.
I wonder what will happen when he joins other dictators charged by the World Court for his atrocities. Blame Biden I am sure.
RoboBiden?
OMG! He’s such a creep that, that’s coming.
Andy, as you always say: everything you write is true. This one in particular. I just a had a series of message-conversations with friends and colleagues from other countries who normally come to the US in the summer to attend academic conferences and all of them are staying away this year. And I said to every single one of them, "Stay away. Your safety is far more important and I would fear for your safety were you to come here this year." I will see them less frequently, as I am going to have to travel instead, but I can rest assured that they won't end up in some ICE detention cage somewhere because they do things like write about gender issues in medieval literature. You can only imagine the rage and sorrow I feel right now.
I have a friend who lives in Paris and for the first summer that I can remember she is not coming to New York.
I have been going to Germany annually but have lost all will to travel. The idea of being in an airport under this administration fills me with dread, for multiple reasons. (Not to mention the incessant questioning I’d get from the Germans, who have loathed Trump since 2015.) As an older white lady I’d likely be fine, but seeing this nation, the one that my father and uncles fought for to combat fascism, descend so easily and rapidly into Third Reich territory crushes my soul. Good for you that you can master this angst.
Race to the bottom. … But there IS no bottom. Even our lobsters are moving to Canada.
While leaving the mobsters behind.
Great…thanks. Now I’m going to have a poem about lobsters and mobsters rattling around in my brain all day.
Spit it out, Bills! Please share.
[It beats a worm, eh?]
Good point. Can't share with this crowd; y'all are too smart and funny for whatever i could come up with....
Bottomless pit.
Sometimes I wish everything you say wasn’t true!
I know, it's an unfortunate tic of mine.
We like you just the way you are
You’re very prophetic!
Yeah, this one hurt for some reason. But, please keep them coming. 🙏🏻 ✌️
Reality bites.
lol
Jesus wept! You had me at your head line. The dogs and I bow our heads, wag some tails, in reverence. Do you know how much yr wit keeps me floating? Keeps all of us Borowitzers floating? Go Pacers. (I’m always good for a non-sequitor). Love you, Mousse!
Nothing like replying to oneself - I do it often. That headline is making me snort. Repeatedly. That and Nina Hagen.
“We have met the enemy, and he is us”. - Walt Kelly
Pogo is my spirit critter!
but the question is, if he leaves for a meeting overseas, can we ban him from coming back?!
he is a convicted felon . . . surely, there's something in our laws that would take that into consideration
Sing: "Dream, the impossible dream...."
I love this plan.
Sadly, this is almost not satire.
Almost?
Poor Karoline Leavitt is not the best PR agent. She now regularly appears near tears—and her name is problematic…
KaroLIE gets exactly what she deserves. "I will always speak the truth," (as its given to me in my daily briefings) she says with a straight face.
And while wearing her Pinocchio Cross as per Jon Stewart. At least the liar was shamed into discarding it before her three digit number of lies burned into her chest and exploded. Progress?
Maybe the cross melted?
When Dorrinson speaks, people listen.
All hail Harland!
Dorrinson for President!!!!
and Andy for V.P. And Cookie and Mousse for new positions in the administration: DAGE (Dogs Always Give Everything)!
Think I’d prefer Andy for president and Harland for VP. And the dogs would be infinitely better at filling any and all Cabinet positions. Present Cabinet Secretaries simply are place-holders.
even better, Christina!
Sadly all true. This is a beautiful country but I understand the resistance.
If you are another color besides white, would you come here? A person could get off a plane and the connecting flight could be to El Salvadore
Powerful rich white males only.
I know how the influx of immigrants will be stopped.
They will not be able to get through the hordes of Americans racing to get out!
I just want to travel back to 1969 and watch Neil Armstrong walk on the moon. Diaper Don will have no rivals for title of worst president in history.
Or most corrupt.
I just want to return to the Obama years.
It's hard enuf to live here. I certainly wouldn't want to visit.
well said, Sally! (sad, but well said)
hahahah! I actually clapped out loud when I read this. Alone. In my apartment. But I'm typing it here now, so, it really did happen.