Trump’s Worst Swear
Ted Rall
Ted Rall is a syndicated political cartoonist for Andrews McMeel Syndication and WhoWhatWhy.org and Counterpoint. He is a contributor to Centerclip and co-host of "The Final Countdown" talk show on Radio Sputnik. He is a graphic novelist and author of many books of art and prose, and an occasional war correspondent. He is, recently, the author of the graphic novel "2024: Revisited."
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Imagine if Mr Trump were, in fact, to reply«Get serious !» After all, every US president after FDR’s death has, with the benign help of the US Congress, egregiously violated Article I Section 8 of the US Constitution, which stipulates that it is the Congress which has the power «To declare War». It’s almost as if the US has not been involved in foreign wars during almost all of the intervening seven decades….
Henri
As CrazyH explained to you, under the US Constitution, the President is the Commander in Chief, so he can order the military to do whatever he wants under the Constitution; however, only Congress can call what the president is doing a war.
So the US has not been in any wars since FDR’s actions against the Axis was declared to be a War by the US Congress. ‘If the Congress don’t call it a war, it ain’t a war.’
Alas, Michael, it’s not easy for a foreigner like myself to keep up with the US government is doing (I must congratulate you on your own ability to do so !) ; I’ve heard (I was around when it began) and read a fair amount about, for example, the «Korean War», but the «Korean Police Action» is less often mentioned. Likewise, the US – ahem – «intervention» in Indochina is most often referred to as the «Vietnam War», even in the hallowed halls of the US Congress….
As a matter of fact, the use of the term «war» seems to be popular in that country ; I believe they’ve had a «War on [people, particularly black people, taking] Drugs», a «War on Poverty [i e, on poor people]», etc, etc, in addition to more prosaic uses of the term, as in the «Global War on [of] Terrorism». So perhaps I can be excused if I mistakenly see a constitutional problem in the fact that the US Congress has not declared war on any country since 5 June 1942 ; I submit that it is not good will that is lacking, but rather the requisite linguistic nimbleness….
Henri
In that there were more IMEDs (industrially manufactured explosive devices) dropped on Vietnam during the second half of last century than was detonated in all of Europe during the entire “declared” WWII conflict of economic re-alignment, it makes one wonder … what must a self-proclaiming superpower do in order for its own military conflicts to officially qualify as a “war?”
DanD
I don’t see you giving Bernie Sanders a hard time for attending the inauguration.
Meantime, Kankles is standing in the background thinking, “I should be the one swearing at that gown-wearing clown to suck a tube-steak!”
DanD
Meanwhile, T-rump is swearing with his cross-finger’d hand on a copy of his own tome … isn’t that a double-negative?
D
Kankles. Yer a real peach, eh?
Yeah, and I frequently refer to T-rump as Ferret-head. What’s your point?
DanD
I call her Secretary Clinton. I used to call her Secretary Redbeard, but, of course, she was not elected Fuhrer, so she’ll never get the chance to try to impose regime change on Russia, so I guess I need to stop calling her that.
Many call her Killary, for obvious reasons.
I can’t see anything wrong with Kankles, though I’m not altogether certain where that comes from.
Actually, it’s “Cankles” and here’s your explanation:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cankle
😀
I thought it was “Kackles” ‘cuz her laugh.
Well, there’s a reason she wears pantsuits….
😀
That’s when a person’s ankles start drooping like a badly worn-out pair of sweat socks that’s already a couple of sizes too large. it happens to both men and women, but it seems to be more of an image problem for women, kind-of-like how the perception of small hands might irritate a man.
I figured when Hillary-bot types started talking about T-rump’s “small” hands and blond-ferret hair-style as if it’s a main reason to oppose his politics, I decided to coin a label for the goose side of Billary. There really is a reason why Killary prefers wearing pant suits. It hides or otherwise de-emphasizes the kankle-crowns connecting to her feet.
DanD
http://howtogetridofcanklesnow.com/kankles-of-cankles/
D
Ted, have you come up with the Fuerher’s uniform yet? I noticed he was doing a lot of Saluting yesterday.
Step one: READ the constitution.
Step two: have a high school graduate explain it to you.
The Emoluments clause only prohibits emoluments from Kings, princes, and foreign governments.
So, if a King or prince wants to stay and/or dine at a Trump hotel, or play on a Trump golf course, they must either be refused or comped. This also applies to employees of foreign governments if their room, meal, or greens fee would have been paid for by their government (they can pay and stay and play if they pay for it out of their own pockets).
I hope Trump’s children abide by the Constitution.
But if they don’t, most agree that the US Constitution is an obsolete, 18th century document, and is not binding on the US government. Bush, jr and Obama violated the Bill or Rights (which, appallingly, lacks the clause, ‘This Bill only applies in the CONUS.’), and most Americans agree that the US government cannot be bound by the Constitution if it is to keep us safe.
After all, the US government only says the Bill or Rights does not protect brown foreigners from the government, they have not done anything anyone can prove to citizens residing in the CONUS. So it’s all OK then.
Obsolete, indeed. The Emoluments Clause predates corporate persons.
Seeing as how some corporations have more money than many governments, we really need to amend that 18th Century document PDQ. If we had a functional Supreme Court they would have already addressed the problem as per the founders’ original intent.
Alright then. Let’s tote up the damage so far.
1. Trump’s speech served two purposes: First, it pretty bloody clearly stated what will drive his agenda–U.S. first, U.S. foremost. Second, it pretty bloody clearly was a direct insult to Clinton, Obama, etc. Trump minced no words. However, the proof of the pudding is in the eating.
2. Trump, still, (as far as we know) hasn’t killed anyone’s children. On my list of requisites for whom to invite or not invite to a dinner party, that means Trump still gets in, while a bunch of the other people on that platform order pizza.
3. Trump made several mildly alarming (to me) invocations concerning a superbeing who lives in the clouds. I suspect some of that is simply the ‘good business sense” of roping in the chumps. “Oh, sure, I believe in God and all His good works. Of course, I do,” said every president ever. How many of them meant it? That’s pretty easy to figure out.
Now, for the other side.
1. Sanders was there. The look he had on his face reminded me of the expression “bearing witness.” He was there to witness what was happening.
2. The “protesters.” On this, I will lapse into Trumpspeak. Pathetic losers. Truly, truly, pathetic losers.” Marching with signs? Whatever on earth for? Does ANYONE think the deep and wide dislike of Trump is not known of? “Oh, thank goodness people were marching in the streets, or I wouldn’t have figured out people were outraged!” All the money, time and energy spent to travel to D.C. for this pointless non-act? That’s money that can’t be used for the midterm elections.
3. The 2018 (and the 2020) elections started the day Trump won. Where the hell is the organized voting drive? Does not one single person know how to organize anything beyond a singing circle for the Kumbaya crowd? Can we all stop processing our feel-feels and do something constructive and useful? All these Hollywood stars who know so much about politics and who are so wise? Why aren’t they lending their voices and enormous wealth to starting the Trump Opposition Party? If the elections were held today, Trump would win. The opposition should have been in D.C., boots on the ground, handing out leaflets and getting out the vote. Ditto for the other major cities. They should be finding on-the-fence voters and ACTIVELY courting them RIGHT NOW, not six weeks before the elections. That’s not how you deprogram.
Conclusions.
1. Sanders has to be drafted, right now, to run in 2020. Yes, he’ll be old. But he looks like the kind of guy who’ll still be around when he’s 90. And a younger, vibrant, sensible vice president can be found, just in case. (Look at Claude Pepper. Look at that 100-year-old guy who ran a marathon. Drop your ageist bullshit back in the 20th century. If we had single-payer, a lot more people would make it to a functional 100. So don’t tsk-tsk Bernie out of it.)
2. The Democratic Party has to have a purge. ALL the Clinton-era wheeler-dealer gladhanding opportunists have to be removed. Let them stuff envelopes, but don’t let them anywhere near anything important (e-mail servers, policy decisions, etc.) Setting up chairs in halls for the crowds? That’s necessary work. But the stuff needed to win the elections (outreach, policy, speeches) should be handled by true progressives, not naked opportunists.
3. Speaking of Progressivism. The Democratic Party has to openly and aggressively embrace a totally progressive platform. No more triangulation and “strategy.” No more timid compromising. It has to be “What’s the party stance on healthcare? Will you agree to a revamp of Obamacare?” “No. We bloody well will not. We want single payer healthcare, and that’s the end of that discussion. No. Zip it.” And when pushed on why the party won’t be “flexible,” there should be blunt answers. “Well, if someone breaks into my house and wants to kill my three children, I don’t say to them, well, I don’t want you to kill any of them, so we’ll compromise: you can kill 1.5 of them.” The party has to figure out what it stands for and stick to it. Most people want single payer. Most people would amnesty for nonviolent drug crimes. Get enough voters and that will happen. You don’t get voters by marching with posters because you’re upset over how Trump won. You get voters by going out and talking to them and showing they that you actually stand for something that isn’t milquetoast wishy-washy two-faced BS.
And that’s my rant. I’m done. Sorry for bogarting all that space.
Well said, but “ageism” has also shifted across the scale. For the greater unwashed masses, in the last century, “middle-age” was considered 30 to 45. Nowadays, it’s more like 40 to 60. I’m at 59 and don’t yet feel or act like an “old” person. At the same time, even I don’t want somebody past the age of 80 serving in a spot like the presidency. This prettymuch means that 76 years is the maximum advancement for a 1-term limit Presidency. If our culture is so fucked up that we can’t discover a late-middle-aged leadership type for the job, then that whole culture needs a massive intervention. That being said, really old people (75 and on) just wouldn’t have the stamina to effectively intervene. (I may eventually have a different opinion if I ever reach the age of 73.)
Why? Well, Reagan was too old to be President, certainly during his second term he devolved into a fucking neuron-depleted moron. I don’t care what you say, ANYBODY who is in the last decade or so of their life experience a very skewed sense of value. From what I’ve observed, old oligarch-types really aren’t concerned about killing off young people if it achieves their most immediate agenda. And the only thing a really old person has left in life is an immediate agenda.
Caveat … when dealing with “TRUTH”, nothing is absolute. As fountains-of-youth are progressively discovered at the quantum level, we also change our judgement standards accordingly.
DanD
DanD,
Just a clarification. If, in four years, Sanders is sitting in an adult diaper babbling nonsense to himself, then, no, he shouldn’t be president. But we no longer live in a factory economy. I don’t expect an 80-year-old to be able to shovel coal all day long. Do I expect an 80-year-old to be able to handle the same sort of intellectual things that a 65-year-old can? Depends on the 80-year-old, but it isn’t like some magical Alzheimer fairy shows up at the start of everyone’s ninth decade and turns their brains into liquid. I’d much rather have a well-read, rational, deliberate 80-something calling the shots than some 69-year-old eggsuck con artist carpetbagger who never saw a moral issue she couldn’t turn into a payday for herself.
Thanks for your rant, Alex. Rant it may be, but still a model of objectivity and restraint compared with at least some of the corporate media’s coverage of Mr Trump’s inauguration as US president ; cf this article by Ed Pilkington in the Guardian. After commenting on those attending the ceremony, Mr Pilkington then turned his attention to those who were not, such as John Robert Lewis and other Democratic members of the US House of Representatives, and wound up by describing yet another absentee :
«Also absent was Vladimir Putin, though the Russian president was very much there in spirit, hovering over the Capitol building. The full extent of the Kremlin’s meddling in the US election is not, and may never be, known; what is certain is that all main US players, Trump included, now agree that Russia was behind the hacking of Democratic emails during the election, to which one might add that from Putin’s perspective, he got his man.»
One can’t but wonder what Mr Pilkington would have made of it if, indeed, Mr Putin had turned up for the ceremony….
Henri
«I’d much rather have a well-read, rational, deliberate 80-something calling the shots than some 69-year-old eggsuck con artist carpetbagger who never saw a moral issue she couldn’t turn into a payday for herself.» Thanks, Alex ! If I don’t become too senile in the interregnum, I’m going to pluck the above out and re-read it in a few years, when I’ll need it…. 😉
Henri
Bush said, “You’re either for us or against us” – Donnie T. Rump says, “you’re against us.”
Y’ever notice how the playground bully has a posse? Donnie just told his posse to fuck off. So he goes out into the schoolyard, expecting collect lunch money as usual … and his former posse is now siding with the other kids. Surprise! Without his posse at his back, there may come a day when the other kids teach him the Art of the Offer He Can’t Refuse.
I was at the Inauguration parade…
Across the street a sign read: “No bigotry, war, capitalism. Yes race liberation, revolutionary feminism.”
Notsureiftrollorserious.img
Protesters were risible. “Free Melania” “Trump=Fraud” “Bye, Trump” “Impeach”
I bring this up on numerous occasions: the protesters shoot themselves in the feet by behaving foolishly. The people on the fence glance offer and roll their eyes. For instance, the pink hats. They aren’t symbolic, they’re silly. A lot of people see them and say to themselves, “Wow. They must really mean it. They bought adorable pink hats. And look at the signs. Aren’t they cute? They’re just like the ones I see on the cheezburger site.”
You want a unifying symbol? Come up with some fliers that say that not only are you not going to buy anything nonessential until Trump is gone, but you’re also going to actively harass your friends and family into doing the same. Get Oprah to do it. If Oprah drank battery acid, half a million people would go running out to their garages with crow bars and a tall glass.
But pink hats? You just lost a big part of your target audience — the people who were willing to listen — because you now look like you’re acting like teenagers.
https://vid.me/irYN
The kids were adorable. One girl jumping and dancing and shouting, “We’re going to make America great again!”
And defying the Narrative, there were so many young people, women, and blacks ecstatic for their new president.
https://postimg.org/image/ywfnycgtb/
Beginning of line at 8am, D street.
The kids were adorable.
All the talk about our underperforming public schools appeared to be true! Somehow there are still some kids who don’t believe they deserve everything for free. These kids are filled with hope and even have pride for their country! The mandatory government indoctrination factories must redouble efforts!
«These kids are filled with hope and even have pride for their country!» You mean pride in those «underperforming public schools», «Jack Heart» ? Or is it only persons like yourself who take pride in such matters ?…
Henri
> All the talk about our underperforming public schools appeared to be true!
The inauguration proved that beyond a shadow of a doubt. Sixty three million fourth-grade graduates voted for El Trumpo.
Got a weapon past two checkpoints. That’s the TSA for ya.
«Got a weapon past two checkpoints. That’s the TSA for ya.» A weapon, «Jack Heart» ? What sort of weapon ? What did you intend to do with it ? Did, in fact, you do anything with it, besides smuggle it through the barriers created by that charming Bush-Cheney creation, the TSA ?…
Had you in fact been stopped and arrested, do you think that the newly inaugurated president would have immediately pardoned you ?…
Henri
> Got a weapon past two checkpoints
Really? You think it’s okay for cops to shoot people for selling loosies. What do you suppose they should do to people who commit Federal felonies?
I carry weapons on every flight. My fists are registered as deadly weapons with the FBI. :: cough ::
«Really? You think it’s okay for cops to shoot people for selling loosies. What do you suppose they should do to people who commit Federal felonies?» When responding to «Jack Heart»’s posts, CrazyH, we have to keep in mind that s/he’s a Walter Mitty figure, whose ability to distinguish between reality and her/his dreams is open to question. The risk of anyone shooting our «Jack Heart» in real life is, I suspect, exceedingly small, so s/he is likely to continue to be around to entertain us….
Henri
What president has ever kept that oath? Lincoln didn’t. The Roosevelts didn’t. Even Jefferson arguably didn’t. Washington?
Possibly George W. Bush?
Notsureifserious.img
«Possibly George W. Bush [kept the oath to «»preserve, protect, and defend» the US Constitution]?» Save for certain pesky amendments, not least among the first ten. But then, of course, mein verehrter Lehrer, the oath includes that weasel phrase, «to the best of my ability», so perhaps one should not be too hard on Mr Bush….
Henri
> [T]he oath includes that weasel phrase, «to the best of my ability», so perhaps one should not be too hard on Mr Bush….
HA!
+1
Schumer warning us of “domestic enemies” and invoking Lincoln. Kek. (Both great domestic enemies of the Republic.”
Can’t but wonder how much longer Sean Michael Spicer will be retained as White House press secretary (not that people serving similar functions in the Obama administration were precisely role models ; cf , e g,US State Department spokesman John Kirby). If his performance at the new administration’s first press briefing can serve as a harbinger, soon, I fear, Mr Trump is going to have to tell Mr Spicer that «You’re fired !»…
Henri