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Cosmo T Kat's avatar

Trump has already moved past Carter in the loser president category. What Carter has going for him was that he appeared to be a decent, but flawed man with a conscious. Trump has no conscious, no empathy, and a mind set that is psychopathic and he fits right in with his real estate hucksters.

Clyde Griffith's avatar

Memorial Day Anthem (Fragile, by Sting)

If blood will flow when flesh and steel are one

Drying in the color of the evening sun

Tomorrow's rain will wash the stains away

But something in our minds will always stay.

Perhaps this final act was meant to clinch a lifetime's argument

That nothing comes from violence and nothing ever could

For all those born beneath an angry star

Lest we forget how fragile we are

On and on, the rain will fall

Like tears from a star, like tears from a star

On and on, the rain will say

How fragile we are, how fragile we are

Jeff Martineau's avatar

Re: “flip.” This is actually a thing, and more fundamental as it goes to Trump’s “formation” and the times/troubles we are going through in the West.

The “flip,” as described by Marshall McLuhan, is the Television Paradigm dying as the “authority” in the West. The emergence of Digital killed it. When the medium is dying it “flips” into its origins. For Television that is Radio, which was propaganda, and what early 40s/50s television looked and sounded like (see the early tv ads and shows like Murrow and Mike Wallace. Radio/early Television told you what was what, what to do, what was right, etc. No messing around: this is right that is wrong. That was Trump’s youth. It is a significant part of what Trump means by MAGA, when the US was the dominant force, and seemed the dominant moral force relative to the rest of the world.

Today Television has ZERO grip on anyone’s psychology, unless you are over 70. For everyone else it is just what they agree with or entertainment. The very young, gens Alpha and Beta and eventually Charlie, it’s not anything, except the past/propaganda they will not participate in.

Trump sounds a lot like early television and the television of today: just the other side of say CNN.

Then Trump really went Television in the 90s and 2000s. He understands it’s completely B.S., a total put-on, but it is what he is and those around him think they can dominate it and get their way.

Interestingly, aside from his time as a gameshow host (yes that is really what he did), television has has no use for him and has never taken him seriously, short of new ownership, but that is too late.

Trump really believes that he can use/manipulate television for his gain. After all, it was that way most of his life.

He learned from Television and those who he hung out with in his 20s and 30s (others who wanted to get into the big $ game and influence by alternative means) to never be outwardly honest. That is acting. That is the Art of the Deal: it is literally in the book! Totally B.S. people to get gain power over them. That is the world we all grew up in. It formed us and Trump. Also remember what church his chauffeur brought him to and minister: Marble Collegiate Church on 5th Ave, Norman Vincent Peale, for goodness sake’s! The Power of Positive Thinking! It’s totally about self help and manipulation of others.

The “flip.” Television is radio again…all because of the Digital changing all of the audience: we believe nothing it or anyone says anymore. Thus the rise in spirituality and going back to Church, particularly Catholic and Orthodox.

Trump tries to confuse everyone. That is Television. No doubt he is confused himself. Too bad he stopped talking to Tucker (tongue in cheek) since he has no one else around him that is pro human.

Nevermind the Molochs's avatar

D J Trump certainly seems to like the role of soap opera villain du jour (though he's more like a pro wrestling heel).

He's being a good sport about ushering out the society of the spectacle.

So who is the script writer? I'm not even sure that it's Satanyahoo anymore. He looks like a hollowed-out specimen now, animated only by barbarism.

Jeff Martineau's avatar

In the post Television world - Digital Paradigm - everyone is their own scriptwriter, director, distributor, producer, critic….

Texas Khaan's avatar

Donald,

Nobody's gonna mistake you for Jimmy Carter. You do understand that Jimmy was actually a human, as opposed to being some kind of a lizard, like yourself.

dissonant1's avatar

He may have been incompetent (well let's just say he was) but he projected a basic human decency which seems absent now.

Te Time's avatar

Meanwhile… there was a wedding.. on a private island in the Bahamas.. 🇧🇸

Carl R Williams's avatar

Let me say that Chump has far surpassed Jimmy Carter in foreign policy stupidity that President Carter is starting to look like a genius.

Marvin Gardens2's avatar

"Trump kept screaming that he was going to be turned into another Jimmy Carter (also of Iran ill-repute)"

What scares Trump more than dead troops is *captured* troops:

Boomers hate Iran because of the endless/nightly "Iran hostage crisis" coverage (after they deposed the Shah).

If this repeated, Trump would be reliving this neocon nightmare - but w him as the "weak" president :-)

susan mullen's avatar

I'm a "boomer" (born 1948) but I don't "hate" Iran. I do recall that hostages were released minutes after Reagan was inaugurated in Jan. 1981. I almost never watched tv news, was very busy working in the private sector.

aDoozy's avatar

I am a "boomer", too (born 1954), Susan. I don't hate Iran, and I don't watch Fox News. I have been reading about how boomers are diehard Trump supporters, and Fox News devotees. This picture of boomers has been painted with a broad brush.

p.s. I watched the TV news coverage of the hostage release after R.Reagan came to office, too. I don't recall feeling hatred at the time--before or after the release.

Kevin Slattery's avatar

Any insight on the U.S. bombing southern Iran today and how that affects things?

Marvin Gardens2's avatar

seems these needle-dick sadists like blowing up fishermen (and little girls)

Nevermind the Molochs's avatar

Pitiful aren't they. It's notable how the majority of students slaughtered in their beds by 'Ukraine' three or four nights ago were young women. And it was a double-tap strike. It's an undeniable pattern. Sheer evil.

Mark Wauck's avatar

Details are sketchy. CBS:

"U.S. forces conducted self-defense strikes in southern Iran today to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces," CENTCOM spokesperson Capt. Tim Hawkins said in a statement. "Targets included missile launch sites and Iranian boats attempting to emplace mines. U.S. Central Command continues to defend our forces while using restraint during the ongoing ceasefire."

This looks different than "U.S. bombing southern Iran". It's also only CENTCOM's version.

It looks like an attempt to show resolve to Iran. I doubt it will change much, unless it turns out that there were significant casualties.

Carl R Williams's avatar

Self-defense my ass! They always say the opposite of what the truth usually is.

susan mullen's avatar

I haven't seen any news saying Iran invaded the US, so a US attack on Iran soil could only be unprovoked aggression.

aDoozy's avatar

Bingo! Attacking Iran's, or any country's, missile launch sites is definitely unprovoked aggression. Iran and countries across the globe have defenses set up within their borders. They have every right to do so.

Marvin Gardens2's avatar

salami slicing

Iran don't play that

Mark Wauck's avatar

Possibly this is intended to reinforce a dispute over Iran's sovereignty over Hormuz.

Alex's avatar

From what I can piece together so far:

- Iran sent some boats out, possibly on a mining mission

- US decided to attack and sink the boats, killing several sailors

- Iran replied with anti-ship missiles against US naval assets

- US deployed MQ-9s and possibly manned aircraft over Bandar Abbas, several Reapers were taken out by Iranian air defences

- US claims "self defence in the framework of the ceasefire", which sounds flimsy as an excuse

- so far no official stance from Iran that I've seen

All in all, I'd call it a skirmish for now, unless either side decides to escalate further

Mark Wauck's avatar

Thanks.

"All in all, I'd call it a skirmish for now, unless either side decides to escalate further"

Sounds about right.