Trae Crowder, the Liberal Redneck, used to do satire. That’s when it was still possible to do satire. The essence of satire is to make something funny by exaggerating an absurdity which already exists. In the Era of Trump, however, where the baseline of an average news day is already ridiculous to the point of being cartoonish, how do you exaggerate? Be that as it may, the Liberal Redneck has found a way to spin a few comical moments, in a country which is busy laughing itself to death while its political leaders keep selling out to Russia.
We do swallow everything — at least MAGA does and the formerly “normal” Republicans have decided that their best interests is to swallow whatever pride they had, along with their principles, and participate in the MAGAfornication of the GOP.
The premise of MAGA is devotion to Donald Trump and the problem with that is that while yes, Trump is the leader of a charismatic cult, he’s also deeply unpopular outside that cult. In our history you will not find another leader in either party who caused so many members of that party to defect and support the opposing party’s candidate. This is a first in American history.
It’s also a first that GOPers who used to think straight have opted to do a 180 and support Trump. Just look at J.D. Vance, Mike Lee, Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham, and more recently, Tim Scott. Scott was saying during the GOP primary that Trump can’t win, now not only is Trump capable of winning, Scott is supposed to be the lightning rod for the Black vote. At least this is Scott’s newest plan as he jockeys for the number two seat, not having been able to secure the pilot’s seat.
And speaking of the pilot, if you have Trump at the helm of any vessel, let alone the ship of state, your destination is not going to be where you think and certainly nowhere you want to be. Right now all Trump is concerned about is bailing himself out of his financial troubles and then giving Vladimir Putin whatever he wants so that Putin doesn’t use kompromat on him. And what kompromat it must be. Frankly, I don’t think we’re at a level of talking about anything as comparatively trivial as golden showers and prostitutes, I think we’re talking more along the lines of financial humiliation.
The true way to control Trump is to control his purse strings and/or his cultist’s perceptions of him. And a revelation about a prostitute and a hotel room simply would not ruffle Trump’s feathers. He might even use it as a way to enhance his reputation as a wild and crazy guy, who hires prostitutes when he isn’t busy chasing supermodels. That’s vintage Trump advertising. But financial humiliation is something else altogether. That he wants to avoid like the plague.
I think Putin is using the ability to financially humiliate Trump as kompromat. It’s not inconceivable that back in the 80’s, when Trump had massive financial problems and Putin was developing him as an asset, that Putin bailed Trump out, bigly. And now Putin expects to be paid back.
That’s the trail of breadcrumbs we should be following. Putin’s long game is to get Trump back in power, if he can, and to control the MAGA movement and get another useful idiot in power as soon as he can, when Trump finally outlives his usefulness.
Trump’s survival right now consists of convincing Putin that he is indeed, useful, and deserving of Putin’s backing. Let’s see if Trump can do that as his legal situation worsens.
Most republicans haven’t had any principles for decades–this current behavior only added a few to that total.
Their one principle is to be unprincipled.
Criminal traitors who stole the presidency and continued their criminal behavior: Nixon, Reagen, Bush 1&2, and Trump…The album Who’s Next includes the song: Won’t Get Fooled Again. I’ll believe it when I see it.
Love Trae Crowder. He has such a picturesque way with words. ‘Noted shame factories’ could include pretty much all of the morans proud to wear the red hat and say the stupid stuff out loud, beside the Jim dipsticks Comer and Jordan. But there are so many of them anymore. Sigh.
That’s why the whole hush money thing is bizarre to me.
His followers didn’t blink at “grab ’em by the pussy”, the fact he was banging porn stars and Playboy Playmates would give him cred with the MAGA mouth-breathers.
I agree Putin must have something on his illusion of wealth, but after Leticia James gets through with him, the whole wealth thing is out the window now.
well, the actual case in the hush money matter is for “falsifying business records”, a much more discrete and provable crime. Cohen already did time for it, so the crime has already been proved.
Principles? We don’t need no.stinkin’ principles.. We got money and candidates stupid people worship and mega donors we gave tax cuts and Daily destroying the USPS and the military… Oh wait. The mega donors are not donating despite the tax cuts. Some formerly stupid people have left because they realized they don’t like us banning abortion and books. We are running out of money for down ballot races because we are paying Trump’s legal.bills.
Oops.
I don’t think putin has anything major on Trump and I doubt he had anything to do with bailing him out in the 80s. putin was just a kgb officer. he would have to have been able to convince his superiors that a self promoting idiot was wort the investment. Trump was always enamored of people like gotti and other mafiosi and that’s what putin basically is only he runs a whole country instead of a neighborhood. all putin had to do was invite him to join that very exclusive club. it even pays well. as you pointed out yourself vlad may be the richest man in the world. why suckered some rubes out of a few bucks when you can suck billions out of a treasury? I also don’t think Trump had any real interest in running for office before Obama burned him at press club event. then he decided to run to get revenge. no doubt putin has stuff on Trump, that’s just the way he operates, but Trump doesn’t do shame or embarrassment. I think the same is true of Lindsay Graham. I’ve been hearing for years that someone has something on him. maybe, but mostly I think they’re both just major league assholes. I don’t think it needs to be any more complicated than that.
actually Trump toyed woth the idea of running for president much earlier than the WHC dinner. and Putin almost certainly flattered him and encouraged him. KGB plays a long game, ensnaring their future assets.
MICE:
money, ideology, compromise, ego. On every count, Trump was super vulnerable. wannabe rich racist with a predilection for underage girls and a malignant narcissist.
`Back in 2018, I read in a German newspaper a report that suggested Trump was in hock to “Russian oligarchs” for approx $420 mill. I’ve never seen that figure since, nor have I found any corroborating stories, but if true, those oligarchs would be controlled/handled by Putin, putting Trump directly in debt to him. $420 mill doesn’t sound like much in context of Trump’s liabilities now, but the vig would be piling up ever since, and those guys don’t come asking politely for repayment when they call it in.