Stupidity - Trump and his twitter feeds

According to reporting from the Boston Globe, West Wing staffers say they intentionally insert grammatical errors into messages they draft for Trump's Twitter account, trying to mimic the president's peculiar style. Two staffers who talked with a Boston Globe reporter said Trump’s online voice at @realDonaldTrump, highlighted by his boorish language and broken syntax, “emphasizes his rejection of the elites” …and that helps him appeal to his low-information loyal base.

Stupid is as stupid does

While Trump appears to, with some embarrassment, delete earlier tweets that were originally posted with strange wording or child-like spelling errors — the most well-known is the bizarre "covfefe" tweet — he seems proud of the vast majority of them filled with capitalization of random words, quirky grammatical inaccuracies, and an overuse of exclamation points and ellipsis’. They all fall into a subterranean-level stratum that his predecessors stayed far away from. Prior presidents using Twitter and other social media strove to come across as intelligent, enlightened, thoughtful and appeared to be fully aware of the awesome and extraordinary responsibilities of the office of the president.

Trump does not.

British comedian and actor John Cleese nails it

          Nor does Trump attempt to appear presidential. As long as he appeals to his base at a simpleton’s level, with no understanding of governance, civic duty, or the dignity usually displayed by high office holders, they will support him. They think of him as the juvenile delinquent sitting in detention hall with them, and that makes Trump admirable. The Trump team likes to employ a strategy seen among other conservative trolls on Twitter: they intentionally screw up to, from their point of view, ‘own the liberals.’ They think if liberals - or educated people - point out the unprofessional, coarse, and childish nature of Trump’s tweets, it means those people have been ‘owned’ by Trump. He outwitted them by tweeting like a dolt. How exactly that is accomplished is never explained but it doesn’t matter so long as his base BELIEVES that’s what Trump has done. Style trumps substance. Fiction trumps fact.

The mind of Trump

Some White House staff members even take a perverse pleasure in the scoldings Trump gets from better-educated readers who are stunned by the Trumpian language the staffers have attempted to imitate, believing that debates over Trump’s grade school errors and typos fortify the belief in his base that he has the common touch. To put it bluntly, the base approves of his being an ignoramus…because it’s just like them.

Thoroughly Pathetic

So you have to be a dum-dum who likes misspelled words, overuse of exclamation points, random capitalization, broken syntax, and made up stories from the dum-dum who sits in the Oval Office claiming to be ‘presidential.’ And those dum-dums cheer on that kind of ignorance. They see it as an asset.

It makes sense that Trump and his team would be obvious about his lack of understanding and his appeal to the lowest expectations of his base. Since Trump’s presidential style, if you can call it that, revolves around grievance politics, he and his handlers like to metaphorically poke a stick in the eye of anyone with more than a fourth-grade education – you know, to put them in their place.

Trump Loves Stupidity

          Trump and his twitter enablers spend more energy inventing fractured posts complete with deliberately misspelled words and nonsensical capitalizations than working on a comprehensive strategy for dealing with North Korea. That would take real work, and as we have seen, Trump is allergic to real work. It cuts into his golf time.

The Republicans and evangelicals are to blame for the Trump presidency

We must never forget how Trump won the 2016 election. Yes, there was Russian interference. Yes, the Clinton campaign was poorly run. Yes, there was acrimony and divisiveness on the part of most of the candidates. Yes, there was fake news slathered across the internet and repeated by the media. Yes, millionaires and billionaires gave Trump boatloads of money to run, even though he claimed at his rallies that he was self-funding so no one would own him. But Trump’s biggest boost came from the far-right fundamentalists who decided Trump represented their core Christian values…which is astounding given all the vulgar, unethical, immoral, and downright unchristian things Trump had said and done on the campaign trail. Then again, maybe those who professed Christian values didn’t really have them, but rather were far, far more closely aligned with Trump’s narrow-mindedness and were easy to manipulate.

They actually yelled "Heil Trump!"

         A 2016 collaborative scientific paper by Edward Dutton of the Ulster Institute for Social Research in the UK and Dimitri Van der Linden of the Rotterdam University in the Netherlands spotlights a reason for this. ‘If religion is indeed an evolved domain…an instinct…then it will become heightened at times of stress when people are inclined to act instinctively…” wrote Dutton. Trump’s campaign was built on stressing people out by scaring them with rapist Mexicans, terrorist Muslims, job-stealing Asians, currency-manipulating Chinese, payment-cheating NATO members, outmaneuvering-trade-partners in NAFTA and TPP, free-loading health care recipients, and a crumbling defeated America. It was a perfect vehicle for enlisting the evangelicals. Their instinct to “circle the wagons” from heightened stress over Trump-manufactured pseudo-problems assured him of their vote. Why think things through rationally when you can just instinctively let an authoritarian bigot do the thinking for you?

 According to Pew, Quinnipiac, and NBC/Wall Street Journal polls, over 80% of white evangelicals turned out to vote for Trump, [no less than 85% of white evangelical men] and that made just enough difference. The Republicans are the reason Trump got the nomination as the Republican candidate in the first place. They could have stopped it, or stepped in and changed the course of his candidacy for over a year. But they all chose party over country. They knew of his tampering with the Republican platform before he got the nomination, changing one item - a provision to deny defensive hardware to Ukraine in their fight against Russia. They knew he had numerous failed businesses that put him in financial jeopardy over and over and in debt to dozens of banks around the world. They knew of the countless multi-million dollar lawsuits against him, many that were still in the courts. They knew he had had repeated interactions with known mob and criminal figures. They knew he was an immoral womanizer and a serial sexual predator because he bragged about it on the Howard Stern show, not once but on three occasions, even infamously on the Access Hollywood tape. They knew of his shady dealings with the Russians because he boasted about his interactions with Putin and Russian government officials in several TV and radio interviews. They knew he lied, and that he lied repeatedly. He even doubled down on his lying over easily verifiable stories. The Republicans and evangelicals KNEW all this…yet they voted him in any way. Because of that, we are now suffering through the Trump presidency. Their support is why we have the chaos in the White House and across the land. It will only get worse and spread around the world until Trump is forced out. But there will be blood in the streets when it happens because he now thinks of the presidency as his legitimate right. No one should be allowed to challenge him thanks to the Republicans and evangelicals.

The Republicans and evangelicals are solely responsible for this catastrophic administration, and they must be held accountable. Every decision Trump makes, decisions that harm this country; whether judicial, legislative, environmental, military, diplomatic, or economic, it is on the hands of the Republicans and the evangelicals. If it was within my power, I would ban the evangelicals from ever voting again. They have shown that their religious view negatively impacts their judgment, meaning they cannot be trusted to vote in the interest of the nation any more than a rabid bear can.

                  The clowns applaud their Clown-in-Chief.

          And voters should be reminded of Republican support for Trump in every election from this point forward...no ifs, ands, or buts. Like when the Republicans dig in their heels and insist that the FBI’s investigation into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia won’t slow down the president’s legislative agenda, or passing a huge tax plan that transfers more wealth to the richest one percent of Americans [of which Trump is a member], when they try to gut healthcare and leave millions of Americans with lesser or poorer quality coverage, when they rescind regulations and laws that harm American workers but put more money into the hands of billionaire CEOs in the nation. The GOP is the new Whig Party.

                               Coming soon to theaters everywhere.

Trump is all about the show, the theatrics, the use of gold paint to cover the cheap wooden frame, and nothing more. He is using the presidency to make himself rich again, even as he fails to make America great again. We wouldn't be in this intolerable position if the GOP had not nominated…and evangelicals had not helped elect…this thoroughly unfit man for the office. This must never be forgotten…or forgiven.

Donald Trump's appeal

Since it is apparent Donald Trump is going to be the Republican candidate for president, it’s time to consider what is his appeal. On who have the, as one pundit called them, “disgruntled conservative voters” pinned all their hopes. .

It is claimed Trump has hit a nerve among GOP grass-roots members with a message of we are fed up, especially with the GOP establishment.

Is that nerve the one that also desires to insult veterans, like Trump did with John McCain last July? If these grass-roots members are also military veterans, doesn’t it bother them that their candidate has so little regard for former prisoners-of-war? Or that when Trump had a chance to serve his country in the 1960s he claimed he got deferments for a bone spur in his foot. Yet when politely asked ‘which foot”, he fumbled a few moments and then said “It’s in the records. You’ll look it up in the records.” I can still remember which hand I broke (left) playing football when I was just a kid. But Trump can’t remember which foot had enough pain caused by a spur to keep him out of the military?

Why don’t those grass-roots members get fed up with Donald’s dishonesty, like claiming it wasn’t him posing as his publicist John Miller on a recorded phone call from the early 1990s that he later even admitted was a joke that spiraled out of control? Or his promise to release his tax records, as every presidential candidate has done since 1972, then reneging on it, saying not until after they are all audited (which won’t be until after November 2016) and besides, they would reveal nothing new. That doesn’t hit a nerve when he blatantly lies when confronted?

In Donald's defense, Genesis 19:30-36 says it's okay.

If any of those grass-roots members are female, how can they overlook Trump’s numerous instances of belittling women as dogs, pigs, fat-slobs, flat-chested malcontents, ugly-faced losers, and bimbos? Or when he calls women “basically aesthetically-pleasing objects”, that sexual assault in the military is to be expected, that women should rely on sex appeal, that pregnant women are monsters, or that breast-feeding in public makes a woman a horrible person? How do any of those comments miss a woman’s nerve?

This modest, humble and thought-provoking man tells anyone who’ll listen “The beauty of me is that I’m very rich”, “You can never be too greedy”, I’ll bring back a hell of a lot worse that waterboarding”, and that it doesn’t matter “what the media writes as long as you’ve got a young, and beautiful piece of ass.” And yet his base of conservative voters aren’t fed up with such sexist, self-centered and shallow thinking.

Most astounding is the evangelicals who still support Trump. Here is a man who claims he doesn’t need forgiveness from a god because he hasn’t done anything to be forgiven for and referred to Second Corinthians as “Two Corinthians” when asked his favorite bible verse. He also cited the “Eye for an Eye” rule from Exodus 21 as being one that has guided him throughout his life, when that Mosaic Law was repudiated by Jesus in Matthew 5. Evangelicals, this is the man who will represent you to the world...and he claims his version of Christianity will have power when he’s in the White House. Not your interpretation of the bible...his interpretation. And you evangelicals are not going to like it. Because what he means is the Crusades power, Inquisition power, and unrestrained bigotry and oppression power. Is this how you want to be seen?

So much for Donald thinking the Clintons are horrible, dishonest people.

The GOP establishment that the disgruntled grass-roots members are fed up with is being encouraged to swallow its pride and do whatever it takes to keep Hillary Clinton from gaining the Oval Office because she’s a liar and proven deceiver. The patriotic thing to do is to instead put a lying, self-centered, thrice-married, flip-flopping semi-successful, crass, unapologetic sexist in the office. Yep…then the world will finally respect us!

As of May 19^th, Donald Trump has launched a media offensive to reset his campaign. The presumptive GOP presidential nominee is hoping to rehabilitate his image among voters who have been put off by his extreme rhetoric, and address the wrongs he has committed on the campaign trail. His main problem is still his take-no-prisoners style that has spurned Independents and moderate voters. His willingness to goad protesters, encourage violence, and hit below the belt in upending a culture he argues is spoiled by political correctness has also alienated most women, non-whites and moderate conservatives. Unless they all stay home November 8th, there aren't enough people left to get him elected.

The dead elephant in the room

It is rather fitting that the Republicans were prevented from winning much on Election Day since they ignored a majority of the American voters throughout the campaigns. Though I am exactly in their target demo: older white male, professional job, college degree, fiscally conservative, and from a very conservative family, there is no way I can support most of the Republican Party’s platform. (Don’t mistake that to think I vote Democratic; I don’t. I usually vote Libertarian but it depends on the issue and the candidate.)

                Listening to certain radio ilk the past month made one think Romney was a shoo-in. Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, Dennis Prager, Michael Medved and other mouthpieces of the far right fringe have been citing poll after poll showing that Romney had not only caught up with Obama, he had surpassed him in various demographics and was on a roll that would take him into the White House. It is a perfect example of the old adage ‘If you believe a lie long enough, it will become the truth to you.’ It has now been exposed that many of the pollsters didn't have a clue as to what was happening. They asked the wrong questions of those polled, and in a good number of cases because the questions were ‘loaded’, they got the result they wanted to hear. When polling is based on what you want to hear, you’ll get a skewed result.

One of the talk show hosts tried mightily to show that the evangelicals were going to come out in record numbers and vote for a Mormon for president; not because of his conservatism, but because he was a ‘man of faith’. Supposedly, they should be able to relate to that even though the evangelicals’ own ‘holy book’ denounced anyone who didn't think like them. I know from dealing with many 'born-again christians' that they DO NOT believe a Mormon is even close to being a christian. I can’t wait to read how the talk show host will interpret Romney’s loss, if he bothers trying. My bet is on him claiming that it became evident that god could not allow a Mormon to become president. (Then why the call to support him? Didn't he check with god first?)

                Not helping the Republican cause were the various incidents of ‘hoof-in-mouth’ disease that made some of the candidates look like air-headed lemmings and became well-deserved targets of scorn and ridicule. Voters remember that kind of buffoonery when it comes time to cast their ballot. If the Republicans hope to win in the future, they’d be advised not to take the advice talk show annoyance Dennis Prager. Just days after the election, he was telling callers on his show that the Republican Party didn't abandon the voters, they abandoned the party, and encouraged his listeners to go out and ‘re-sell’ Republicanism to everyone they know. They should pitch all the things that reflected Republican Party values, and convince people that those values are what make good candidates, and a party worth following. He didn't advise them to take a look at how many Republicans interpreted planks in their party's platform. Maybe they should. 

        Because just how do you sell to anyone that ‘rape is a blessing from god’, gays who simply want the right to marry just like heterosexuals, can’t, an attitude of ‘I don’t want the federal government taking away my freedoms, just the freedoms of any woman who wants an abortion’, that you should be fiscally conservative, except when it comes to the Drug War and funding every military weapon system that can be conjured up, and regardless of the Establishment Clause, insisting that the Republicans are the only faith-based party and that god only supports right-wing (Republican) decisions?

       Good luck with that.