Watching TV this morning it’s clear that marching orders went out during the night, at least from NBC to walk back the post Trump convention speech commentary we heard last night. Commentary that included things like you see in the title. There has been more, much more coverage this morning of the “Biden’s being told he must drop out” than the things we heard from pundits last night when the the tone of their comments. Last night it was (as it should have been) about Trump being low energy, telling lies, going off prompter (they had copies of the speech loaded into his teleprompter and he stopped using it!) and riffing like he was at one of his rallies. Even people in the front rows, important people starting to check their phones and displaying a ‘when will this be OVER?’ attitude. There’s some of that this morning but the focus is back on President Biden and about whether HE is too old, too feeble of mind and body! So let’s take a look at the last twelve hours. (It’s 8:30 am eastern as I started writing this)
Even if you stayed up (LATE if like me you’re in the eastern time zone) to watch Trump’s speech many tuned out long before it was over. Just like MAGAs have for some time now gotten bored and walked out of Trump rallies while he’s still on stage. It had been a long day and I was tired as hell but I watched. And then watched some of the post debate analysis/critique on MSNBC. I wish I’d recorded it so I could exactly quote the questions posed in the title (the first one by Joy Reid, and the second by Chris Hayes who gave the first panel reaction) in essence the questions they posed reflect my own real-time reactions watching Trump.
Later, Lawrence O’Donnell who has real experience with politics, speechwriting and scripting and staging entertainment (nominating conventions are four day infomercials after all) pointed out a huge mistake in the staging/scheduling. He spoke of what convention managers in the TV age have always known to do – get the candidates speech on during prime-time. The importance of getting them on the stage and talking at ten pm eastern time (or as close to it as possible) when most of the country tends to watch. But he noted, Trump didn’t take the stage until 10:30pm. Not just a few minutes late as often happens, but a full HALF-HOUR after ten pm, that critical last hour of prime time!
Then we saw Trump briefly and in a soft voice give his opening. Not a combative one, but some platitudes about being a President for all people which we knew and Republicans knew was a load of crap. But lip service to “unity” had to be paid. Then Trump shifted into a long, and I mean LONG recounting of getting shot at last Sat. and he did after all get nicked in the ear – and if the shooter had been even modestly skilled we can be sure Trump would be no more. I’ve seen accounts of his tone being soft and “riveting” but I had a hunch Trump would overplay his hand (thanks to that ridiculously large bandage he flaunted all week) and he did. I assumed he’d drag out his story for as much as ten minutes but it was easily well over twice that!
Look, if not for being lucky his would be killer was a lousy shot or “choked” at the critical moment he’d be dead. If he was feeling that night and since including last night I can relate. If my own life including now is challenging it might be because I used up all my luck walking away from situations where I should have wound up dead. I had several even before I went into the Marines. I know the feeling. But he spent too long on the topic and hammed it up. As this Politico article indicates Presidents/candidates before him had life altering moments but didn’t make an almost twenty-five minute BFD about it during a major speech:
In the riveting opening of his speech, Trump told a personal story infinitely more compelling than those of other most presidential candidates. Once upon a time, in fact, personal recollections were far from the norm.
Dwight Eisenhower did not spent long minutes narrating his feelings on the night before D-Day. John Kennedy did not recount the hours of fighting for his and his fellow sailors’ lives in the Solomon Islands. When Ronald Reagan recovered from an assassination attempt in 1981, he referred only glancingly to his shooting in an address to Congress, reading a letter from a child hoping that he would not have to “make a speech in your pajamas.”
Once Trump moved on it was still a low-key reading from his teleprompter. And though he got some nice reactions from the crowd he did as the panel noted last night get bored reading what he’d been scripted to read and went into rally mode. Except despite some cheering feedback the energy from the crowd simply wasn’t like a few thousand (sometimes eight to ten thousand these days on a good day) screaming MAGAs. As a result although Trump’s energy picked up some he never “caught fire” like he’s done at rallies. Yes, there are folks who work regular jobs, even white collar ones and small business owners and the likes at rallies but everyone’s casually dressed and there are lots of classic MAGA goobers at rallies to help amp up the normal folks. And the group adoration/worship gives Trump his “fix.”
Last night his crowd was people dressed up like they’d be for a business meeting. Mostly in fact the kind of people who DO take part in business meetings every day. Think of an audience in a theater for a play, and an audience at a sporting event – a key game between two bitter rivals. When doing rally schtick Trump counts on having the latter but last night he had the theater goers. The energy which Trump clearly needed wasn’t there. What WAS in evidence was Trump constantly repeating himself with the same tired old lies. And some newer material. Yep, he worked in Hannibal Lector and sharks and boat batteries!
The point is that he blew off a carefully scripted speech that was supposed to paint a veneer of unity that might sway some voters. AND in the process scare fraidy-cat Democrats into believing he could appear statesmanlike enough to be unbeatable. But he got bored, or maybe his mind just shut down over the contradictions between what he thinks and what he was supposed to read. He decided to just go ahead and do what he loves to do which is to speak his mind. To riff with lie after lie and promise after promise. And create mythical visions of a dystopian hellscape the country and world have become since he had to leave the WH because he was “cheated” in 2020.
Like the pundits last night, and even a little bit (and little is the operative word) Trump showed he is NOT the superman he portrays himself to be with his Trading Cards. He is NOT the fire and brimstone guy that can light up any crowd into a frenzy at will . No, he showed himself to be every bit his age, that he hasn’t aged at all well, and has declined in recent years. ‘Is Biden too old to serve a second term?’ punditry goes back long before the debate. In fact it goes back years. Focusing on the kinds of verbal gaffes Biden was known for his entire career in the Senate and as VP. Meanwhile they’ve mostly given Trump a pass.
Networks long ago stopped showing long segments of his rally schtick but last night they had no choice. They HAD to show the country well upwards of forty-five minutes of it and worse (for Trump) it wasn’t even as memorable (as far as entertainment goes) as one of his rallies. It was flat. And it proved one thing:
THIS GUY IS BEATABLE!!!
Again I ask you (and ask you to contact our craven leaders trying to force President Biden out) to look back over the past several months. President Biden, despite his verbal gaffes has been doing his job. Running the government. Talking and meeting with various leaders to move policy forward. Talking and meeting with fellow heads of State. Doing all that as well as any President ever has. AND campaigning some too and doing just fine on the trail. What was Trump doing all that time? Falling asleep in his own criminal trial. Making a fool of himself in remarks going in and out of court. When not on trial he’s made few appearances and when he has it’s been the kind of rambling, sometimes incoherent lies like we saw/heard last night. And people like Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, Hakeen Jeffries and now even former President Obama (among others) have the f**king AUDACITY to say Trump is more formidable, more “there” and is basically an Olympic athlete (physically and mentally) than Joe Biden? And that there’s no way President Biden can beat him? (Again!)
Well, after Trump’s lame performance last night news outlets are in a panic. Instead of the brokered Democratic convention they’re counting on they’re now afraid President Biden will stare right back at those stabbing him and tell them to get stuffed – or he’ll take their knives and shove them up a certain orifice. Sideways. By god he sure as hell should.
Which brings me back to where I started. MAGA’s “King”, their orange turn emperor they worship is an old, worn out (both physically and mentally) a-hole. He’s WEAK in body, mind and spirit. President Biden is also old but he’s healthy and fit of body, mentally fit and nimble with a command of facts and policy few leaders have, and most importantly of good character. So just what the hell about Trump has so many top Democrats scared sh*tless and so much so they are frantically trying to toss Biden aside for… WHO? (I know. I keep asking that but not a one of the “Joe must go” types will either throw support to someone or step up themselves!)
I say if anything Democrats should be feeling confident this morning. In President Joe Biden. He was the candidate Trump feared the most last time around, and don’t for a second kid yourself with the “we really hope it’s Biden” lies that have been coming from Team Trump. Trump knows that after both conventions, when Labor Day rolls around and folks who are just busy day-to-day living their lives start paying MEANINGUL attention the choice will be clear. Sure, they’d prefer different and younger candidates on both sides. However once they’ve looked at both Trump and President Biden side-by-side (so to speak) they will readily conclude that Joe Biden has still got game (and the policies they want) and Trump has, if anything gotten even worse.
So to those Democratic leaders I cited again I say re-grow your goddamned spines and start working WITH President Biden instead of trying to cast him aside for some magical unicorn candidate!
Washington had hordes of his army walk away before he took who was left to Trenton to turn the war. Remember democrats? THE WAR that created this democracy you love to talk about and which HAS MADE YOU RICH! In the gospels it states MANY followers of Jesus walked away until it was down to twelve, one of which betrayed him for silver,(sound familiar?), one, who got out of the boat to walk on a stormy sea, but denied knowing him when the shit hit the fan, and the rest WHO RAN AND HID. Yet we now have tens of millions who CLAIM to follow his teachings. Lincoln spent many a sleepless night wondering how the Civil War was going to end, and if the union would survive. The list is endless that NO CONFLICT GOES SMOOTHLY WITHOUT EFFORT AND DOUBT. Only those that stay the course achieve their goal. If we abandon one of the greatest presidents who saved us from more deaths by covid, kept the economy afloat and turned it around, stands for decency and human rights, and recognizes we’re in dicey waters concerning the climate, BECAUSE he’s not always compelling on TV, in favor of a criminal fascist rapist thief who LIES EVERY TIME HE OPENS HIS CAKEHOLE, then by Almighty God, WE DESERVE THE HELL TO FOLLOW!!!!!!!!!!! Maybe there is a place for homicidal rage after all…
Thanks for bringing up the Battle of Trenton (Washington Crossing the Delaware for those who don’t know why) and how diminished his army was. In fact, the bulk of what was left had their enlistments expiring within a couple of weeks. A couple of days before the crossing and battle General Gates and his army finally was found. Gates contemptuously told Washington to surrender, noting all the deserstions and that what had remained were basically riff-raff and not soldiers. Before dismissing Gates from command and having him escorted out under armed guard Washington stared him down and pointedly noted that while Gates was correct about his troops being only “lads” and not trained soldiers they remained. That they would follow him into hell. Well, they did and unlike what Trump claimed last night their rout of the feared (rightly so) Hessians at Trenton came with almost no casualties on the American side!
That battle and win turned the tide. It would be a long (years) and tough fight to win the war but Washington prevailed. Following that battle and the brutal winter at Valley Forge he got help to start properly training him. Almost NONE I might add from Congress. But with a couple of foreigners with the right skills he trained a force that could fight and hold their own. And strong enough to replenish their losses for the rest of the war.
While the bulk of us regular, average Joe/Jane Democrats would like to see a complete changing of the guard now is not the time. We can see for ourselves the narrative of President Biden having “lost it” is utter bullshit and we resent the hell of of the cowards who are supposed to be the “wise men/women” of our Party going along with what news outlets want with palatable lust – President Biden to step aside. WE know he’s still not just capable but formidable, and that given time and not having to fight his supposed friends he can take down Trump.
I’m also glad you brought up how Jesus’ followers abandoned him. Even his disciples. One even betrayed him. How bout this? Every Democrat in DC (and power brokers like donor and the political consultants Democrats use) should be referred to as the JUDAS Caucus?
I might triy to write an article based on that. I wish you would. You know how to write and if you were to send it to Ursula she might publish it. You might have to tone down some of your recent rhetoric but I’ll bet you could kick ass on this topic.
You seem to ignore, with the Jesus reference, that JESUS told His followers that (1) one of the assembled would betray Him (and, He even gave “permission”) and (2) that they would all deny Him before His being arrested.
Last I heard, President Biden did NOT “give permission” to the Dems who have been turning on him.
It’s also kind of revealing about the nature of Christians who so quickly forget that Jesus KNEW He was going to be betrayed and, yet, FORGAVE His betrayer (it was, after all, Judas’s JOB) while they’ve spent millennia badmouthing the person without whom the whole Christian faith could’ve never begun. Christianity did NOT begin with Jesus’s ministry or all His miracles; it was the CRUCIFIXION AND RESURRECTION that produced the religion’s start. If Jesus had just died an old, wizened rabbi, the most we would’ve had would’ve been little more than just another Jewish sect like the Romans thought of it until around 100 CE (and one that, quite likely, wouldn’t have survived more than a century or so–much like the Essenes who developed about two hundred years before Jesus and only lasted about a century after Jesus). No, the Christians needed “villains” for their narrative so Judas became the main villain (you’ll note that Pontius Pilate just kind of gets a pass in the whole affair) until they needed living people to persecute (at which point, Jews as a whole were blamed while the whole “Jesus was a Jew” story just got put in the attic like that ugly present you got from your Aunt Gladys and only trot out when or if she visits). If only more “Christians” would f*cking read that “holy book” of theirs, they might become much more enlightened about their own religion.
Joseph…let’s remember EVERYTHING we know about Jesus is so shrouded in MYSTERY, it’s impossible to know anything for CERTAIN. An example? We only know he existed because two Roman historians mentioned him. Everything in the gospels COULD be true but we’ll never know this side of the grave. You’re right about the resurrection as Saint Paul even expressed. Without it, he was just another rabbi teaching the best of the Torah. Per the story, the BEST evidence is the story itself. The Roman’s use of brutality to keep subjects in line IS well documented. They crucified thousands and often left them to rot on the side of the road to make their point, which was: PHUCK WITH US AND YOU’RE IN FOR MORE PAIN THAN YOU CAN IMAGINE. The fact the disciples ran and HID makes perfect sense, as human nature has proven time and again. Example? What do people do when the mass shootings start? RUN AND HIDE. The mystery is why they did a 180. What turned them around? It would take something so earth shattering to have them step up to be tortured and killed. AND THEY WERE TORTURED AND KILLED. They claimed it was because he came back from the dead, not as a ghost, but as a materially REAL person who ate, drank, and allowed Thomas to place his fingers into his wounds. As someone educated at the oldest state university, studying with scholars in all the science and math departments and majoring in Religion and Anthropology, I wasn’t prone to supernatural or superstitious belief systems. That being said, a near death experience shattered my certainty and showed me DIRECTLY there’s more to this life than any of us comprehend. You’re also correct that people of all faiths need to respect the MYSTERY of this life AND the mysteries that await us when our biological body is dead as a door nail. Science has shown us time and again how little we really know. As the great philosopher, Mike Tyson, stated, everyone has a plan until they’re punched in the mouth. Death is dancing around all of us and WILL LAND THE FINAL PUNCH IN THE MOUTH for the billionaire on his yacht, and the homeless bum in the gutter! FACT!!!!!!!!!!!!! Best to honor that fact. Hear that ‘christians’??????
Well,there WAS John who stood at the foot of the cross along with the women, and to whom Jesus consigned the care of Mary, his mother. One out of 12.
We’re clearly a member of the riff raff who REFUSE to surrender to the cowards and traitors. Thanks for the suggestion. Given I already tone down what I really would say, I have no desire to become more politically correct to appease the mutherfuckers in this country who are so EASILY offended. When my five uncles fought in WW2, one crawling across france on his belly SHOOTING PHUCKERS like we saw on national tv for several days and nights, this country of half educated cowards caring only about COMFORT makes me sick. The fact a criminal child killing nazi is neck and neck for the highest office in the land makes me wish I was there with my uncle except for the question: what did the heroes in the last 248 years DIE FOR????????????
I share the contempt Lawrence of Arabia had for England, his native land. When the Bedouin couldn’t fathom how the fair skinned Englishman was crossing the desert without drinking water, he asked, “are you from a desert country?” Lawrence replied with the answer of the area in England he was from. His guide asked: “is that a desert country?” Lawrence replied: ” No. It’s a fat country full of fat people!” The guide asked:”Are you fat?” Lawrence replied:”No. I’m different!” Denis apparently we are different. Being a marine, I guess you already knew that. Surrender? NO PHUCKING WAY, and you armchair pampered magats better get a grip on WHO you are trying to phuck over. Come for me or my children and you better count on trouble. Some of us have grown up trained to be warriors…who have already been in many violent situations. FACT. You are just fat people from a fat country.
I don’t know if the professional dem pols are in cahoots with the ‘pube pols or if they are just the stupidest mother-f*ckers on the planet (yes, even stupider than magats), but one of those two have to be correct. I find it inexplicable that dem members of congress/senate would be even allowing others to ask for Biden to step down let alone be the ones to do the asking.
There’s nobody in the wings other than V.P. Harris and putting her at the top of the ticket would give not only von shitzinpants the election but it would also give the down-ballot races to the magats. Magats and von shitzi are the response to the Obama presidency. A potential President Harris would send those f*ckers around the bend. This country is not going to vote for a female president let alone a woman of color heading up the nation. And we are one pubic hair away from Atwood’s vision of the US-changing the ticket right now is a death sentence for the nation.
Why can’t those dumb-f*cks in D.C. figure this shit out? Why are they listening to malcontents like reiner, who is merely looking for attention, for their political advice? That’s like going to rogan for medical advice during the pandemic: real f*cking stupid.
Spike the sad fact is the movers and shakers in our party are RICH and they are more concerned with staying that way than saving the rest of us. In that way they are more like Trump than like us. Sacrifice? They no more know the meaning of that word than bullfrog Barr knew what ‘suggest’ meant. Otherwise they’d be willing to do WHATEVER to save our republic, planet, etc. They want to win ONLY IF IT DOESN’T COST THEM ANYTHING SIGNIFICANT.
Bullfrog Barr.. Love it!
Dumf&@ks… maybe using high filuting (sic?) words, phrases, sentences or references!!!?! Because I always stick with the best political/military saying: did we give up when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor!?!? (I think the proper answer was “hell no!”). When working in logistics used to tell the lads best political factual movie was “nailing palin”. Wonder what the new sequel for dem donors/elites will be titled🤔🤦🏻♂️
highfalutin, lando, and when did the Germans bomb Pearl Harbor?
Right after we won the Revolutionary War by taking over the airfields, per trump.
Japan bombed Pearl, not Germany
Sam I think he was referring to the joke by John Belushi in Animal House when their fraternity received the death penalty and he gave a rousing speech saying just that. A couple of his frat brothers were sitting on the couch and one pointed out it was the Japanese, but the other one told him to forget it because John was on a roll. Funny movie.
It wasn’t all that long ago that I harbored great respect and some measure of affection for folks like Pelosi/Schumer/Jeffries and above all Obama. No more. Weak people are always revealed at times of real challenge, as are strong people. Sadly for all of us, there are now revealed far too many weak people amongst the erstwhile leading lights of the Democratic party. We all expect to find despicable scum inhabiting the GOP but I suspect we all thought the Dems were just that little bit better. Nope. The night that Michael Moore announced his condemnation of Biden, I cancelled my subscription to his online newsletter, accompanied by a note explaining in graphic terms why I was doing so. Now I’ll never be able to watch Spinal Tap with my previous enjoyment, thanks to Rob Reiner being a recently-outed closet coward.
The list goes on, doesn’t it Mr Clooney. Man, we really need to kick some ass this November, don’t we!
Character is revealed when the danger is REAL. These are privileged people who have never seriously been threatened. It’s easy to appear strong until the wolf is at the door.