The way you build a truly vicious nationalist movement is to wed a relatively small core of belligerent idiots to a much larger group of opportunists and spineless fellow travelers whose primary function is to turn a blind eye to things. We may not have that many outright Nazis in America, but we have plenty of cowards and bootlickers, and once those fleshy dominoes start tumbling into the Trump camp, the game is up.
UPDATE 5/23/2016: And, sure enough, the fleshy dominoes start to fall.
The coming presidential election… will consist of ordering one of three things for dinner: pizza, Indian food, or anthrax. For me Sanders is pretty good Indian food, while HRC on her worst days is Pizza Hut pizza, but the choice between Pizza Hut and anthrax is not a choice in any conceivable sense of the word…
I’d say that HRC on her best days is Pizza Hut pizza but, that quibble aside, overall a pretty good analogy. In a similar vein, Andrew O’Hehir on having to choose between HRC and the Republican nominee come the general:
The 2016 choice is more like last week’s Nestea from the back of the fridge versus a foul-smelling mystery beverage that might be diesel fuel or lawn chemicals or sorority-house vomit, but that someone in a Halloween mask has promised will get you really wasted.
I would have gone with “slightly sour milk” rather than “last week’s Nestea” but again that’s a quibble with what’s overall a pretty good analogy.
Donald Trump is a verbally-abusive megalomaniac who has a long track record of business failures, no discernible moral commitments, no discernible policy stances, and no apparent understanding of how government works. If he wins the nomination he’ll probably be the least qualified, least capable major party nominee in the history of the US. For comparison, Sen. Ted Cruz is a cold-blooded sociopath. (Seriously, has anyone checked Cruz for The Mark of the Beast? $20 says he answers to “Hey, Damien.” if you say it when his back is turned.) They’re both awful but I prefer Trump hands down. Why? Because he provokes a greater immune response than Cruz does. Most people are quick to recognize Trump to be a buffoon. In contrast, Cruz is an under-the-radar sociopath. The more people who recognize Trump as a threat and call him out the more likely I think (hope?) that they’d make it harder for him to inflict his will on the country. Because Cruz flies under most people’s radar I bet he could get away with more awfulness than Trump could as president. Pres. Trump would pose a significant risk to civilization, mind you, but I think less of a risk than a Pres. Cruz.
John Oliver with a public service announcement:
If people want to tell me that Hillary would be a less horrid option than whatever profound ghastliness the Republicans throw up, I’ll listen to them respectfully. If they try to tell me there’s something inspiring or transformative about her, I’ll have to wonder what planet they’re on.
On this evening’s GOP debate:
I’ve watched these debates since 1976. We have hit rock bottom in info-content and common sense. Reagan-Mondale was like Lincoln-Douglas.
Sadly, it’s always darkest before it turns pitch black.
From today’s New York Times:
Some Russian analysts say the Kremlin is using the conflict in Syria to test a new generation of weaponry from a major procurement program that military officials began in 2010 after years of oil-boom profits.
“There are radars and all sorts of new control systems, and of course we need a firing range,” Konstantin V. Remchukov, the editor of Nezavisimaya Gazeta, told the Echo of Moscow radio station this week.
“We carried out a lot of exercises,” Mr. Remchukov said. “But a firing range like that opening before us in Syria, with these bombing sorties, with drones and other objects of the new generation, this is, of course, a favorable place for fine-tuning all our new weaponry.”
