Email from a friend:
So one month out, I'm a bit surprised at how little I care about anything Trump-related. Usually, political obsessiveness, work avoidance techniques, etc. kick in after a couple of weeks of post-election frustration, but honestly, I legitimately have no interest in what this person does or says. Doesn't mean I don't think any of it will be terrible. I'm sure it will be. But that's been well covered in the media and this is who the public chose.
Curious if this is a just me or if there is a notable fall in media consumption on political issues.
I'm not quite so far gone, but I get this. We've already seen The Trump Show and now we're getting The Trump Show Part II, this time with even more murder and mayhem! It's like one of those shows where they don't really know what to do with season 2, so they just amp up the CGI and the fight scenes and call it a day.
Even now, it's impossible to tell what Trump is serious about—if anything. Make America healthy again! Tariffs on Canada and Mexico! Don't mess with the US dollar! Declare Democrats illegal on Day One! I mean, check this out:
Come on. Are we really planning to do this for every dumb Trump outburst? Can RFK Jr. break Trump's Big Mac habit? Will maple syrup prices soar if Trump puts tariffs on Canada? What happens if Brazil buys oil in rubles? Would a one-party state really be so bad?
Christ. Maybe I don't care after all if this what the news is going to look like for the next four years.
The plan may be just to overwhelm the public with so much assholery that a big chunk tune out due to exhaustion. Then he and Musk loot and pillage with impunity. Interestingly, the latter may be the actual President while not being eligible (at least for the moment) to run for the office.
Works for diseases.
+25
Totally preventable assholery - that's what makes you throw up your hands and refuse to watch this excruciating reality show any more.
Apocryphal observation. Trump part 2 is boring at best. No one in this deeply blue corner of the country even reads past Trump in the headline and skips it completely. Heaven knows they are avoiding television news for the exact same reason. We know that we will endure and cannot fathom the consequences as long as Costco has eggs and toilet paper. Oops, shelves are empty in the cooler.
Trump is off his head. Remember he wanted to buy Greenland? And he wasn't completely joking; he cancelled a visit to Denmark because the government issued a chilly statement saying Greenland wasn't for sale. His brand of mental illness is quite capable of holding the two thoughts simultaneously that (a) it's funny to humiliate Trudeau by suggesting Canada become an American state, and (b) Canada becoming an American state would be a great move and he deserves respect for being the first president with the wisdom to suggest it.
But yes, it will be necessary to pick the issues worth discussing as the next four years unfold.
According to a Canadian friend, Trudeau is toast.
Quite probably, but not until October 2025 when the next election is scheduled. However, that won't make any relevant difference; Trudeau's successor will be no more enthusiastic about tariffs or joining the US than Trudeau is.
To avoid the "act" I recommend avoiding all mainstream news sites, Twitter, all social media and just jabberwock.
“honestly, I legitimately have no interest in what this person does or says. Doesn't mean I don't think any of it will be terrible. I'm sure it will be. But that's been well covered in the media and this is who the public chose.”
Obviously this has been my perspective for a while now. Since I’m powerless now to have any effect beyond my on circle of family and friends, my focus will remain with them. It’s time to stop imagining that government can do things for us. It’s doing all it can and isn’t doing more anytime soon. Let’s move on to other solutions.
To those who end up being adversely affected by some trumped up nonsense, all I can do is offer my condolences.
We’ve all lived through crises before and so have our parents and grandparents. The last 100 years have been both terrible and awesome. War, prosperity, and more war followed by prosperity again. It’s uneven but here in the USA it’s been good on balance*. Good luck!
*good for me anyway!
You have friends?
Sorry, Justin, just couldn’t resist …
Seems to me it would be smarter to keep a low profile. His ego is so big he wants to act like he’s president already but he hasn’t noticed recession is obviously coming and he’s gonna take the blame for it. If he played it more low key he could blame Joe or even Hunter for the recession.
When a recession (or anything else that’s bad) occurs it will be because of “the enemy within” and an excuse to seize more power and arrest people he doesn’t like.
Also, I don’t think you can use the words “low profile” and “smarter” in a sentence referring to Trump.
I too am fining myself tuning out of standard media. There are still columnists that I respect at the NYT, WP and elsewhere, but the general tone of news coverage is so much part of the problem that I cannot take it.
Examples? Just yesterday on NPR was a NYT journalist (didn't catch his name) was saying "Musk is really the best person to see if there is waste in the budget of the US government". Really? The billionaire who has billon dollard contacts with the US government is a good person to see what we should keep and what we should cut? Like maybe he is okay to cut everything, except the appropriations for his stuff? Last week, another headline of the NYT was "Wall Street Billionaires may help Trump achieve his blue-collar agenda". Really? Trump has a blue-collard agenda? News to me. And billionaires are happy to help him achieve it? What kind of shit is this? The WP is even worse and Bezos has essentially killed it to please the GOP.
The general standard media is promoting intellectual confusion when it is not outright disinformation. No wonder it is impossible to communicate clearly with the citizens of this country with valid information. That's why I am tuning out. I don't need to be riled up or pissed off at both what Trump is saying, and how it is being reported in the general media. I want to be informed, and that's I keep on reading Kevin's blog, and JV Last at the Bulwark.
+20
It’s exactly how I feel as well….and my friends too….zero discussion of politics…and huge indifference to the trump show…we know it will be ghastly..no need to weigh in….so much ink gets spilled on his idiocy…boring.
Trump who…?
I find myself sympathizing with the Grinch, who above all else could not stand "the noise, noise, noise, NOISE!!" It's already going 24x7 again, and the Felon hasn't even been sworn in yet. And a credulous stenographist media rushes ever grunt and Xit to us over every possible transmission medium.
Okay, another quote: "a tale told by an idiot, signifying nothing". Josh Marshall, over at Talking Points, has observed that this has always been the Felon's M.O.: flood the zone with, well "Xit." Keep the "journalists" and Democrats chasing after so many scurrying roaches as they spill from his gaping maw that they can't do anything else.
No analysis. No prioritization. No planning. And definitely no putting forth their own agenda. Just the endless, deafening tide of Xit, all day, all night, and every day. For the imaginable future.
A new strategy for coping is desperately needed. The Dems need a way to actually fight back.
" and the Felon hasn't even been sworn in yet"
When asked what I think the next four years will be like, I said, "It's going to be bad", which surprised me a little because I didn't use multisyllable or Latinate word, or provide context. Just "bad".
I think what I did, retreat from intense scrutiny or following the trajectory of various Trump nominees, is the best thing to do. I'll wait until actions and events manifest themselves, and then look at the particulars, instead of worrying about every aspect of the Clown Show, which begins January 20.
Yup. Not going to spend any time whatsoever with the retarded assholery, especially the "general standard media" (ht). It does occur to me that the devolution of this society's traditional news sources into lickspittle middle school sycophancy leaves the gate open for folks with the ability and means (and balls) to fill the void. Wouldn't take much to show by example the puerility of our media landscape. And no, Maddow, Hayes, Stewart, etc etc are not it. They are reactionary, as much a part of the problem as the forces they purport to oppose and in many ways worse.
Hopefully enough eyeballs tune out of the endless fluffing of TrumpCo that it affects the bottom line, but really, who gives a shit. It's all a sick, sad, pathetic spectacle, government as low rent reality TV. Mind numbingly stupid and boring. The only question worth any attention whatsoever is how to bring to life a no bullshit, anti-authoritarian movement that has balls and a spine, doesn't play into the epistemic pseudo-reality, rejects with prejudice all vestiges of Clinton era Democratic politics, and fights to win. If someone could dial that up, I'd greatly appreciate it.
try http://www.democracynow.org They've been around a long time and have the respect of all serious outsiders and many insiders.
Unless he hurts me or my family personally, I don't give a shit anymore what he and his thugs do in the next 4 years, and the folks that get fucked over and voted for him (or not for her), deserve everything they get.
I would pay big money for a filter for my computer and TV which blurs out any images of his fat orange face and any sounds emanating from his orange pie hole.
If prices on basically everything rise, will that not affect you or your family personally? If Putin or Kim Jong Un lobs nukes at us, will that not affect you or your family personally?
Fundamentally, is there anything that will "fuck over" the folks that voted for Trump that will not affect you or your family personally at all?
I have been a politics / government /law junkie for decades. But since Nov. 5, I'm done. I'm out. At least for the foreseeable future. I absolutely need to do this to remain sane in light of what's happening now and will happen over the next 4 years. No more NYT, no more WaPo, no more CNN or MSNBC, no Twitter (F Elon), no Bluesky (except nonpolitical follows), no political blogs. This blog is really the only one I continue to check in with (but occasionally, and with a little trepidation) because Kevin covers a wider range of topics than just politics. I made my wife agree not to talk about anything political to me or while I'm in earshot. I hope this gets me through.
Hilarious. Democrats are just assholes too! 😂
Senior Democrats are reportedly considering withholding contributions to Joe Biden’s future presidential library amid a mounting backlash over his decision grant a blanket pardon to his son Hunter.
These are the people who we rely on to defend us from trump.
"We have met the enemy..." etc. as Pogo once said.
Agreed, they are all a bunch of whining, useless schmucks, who still have yet to understand that they will be treated as political exiles by Trump and the MAGA GOP, not the loyal opposition. Politics in the US has become a gun fight, and the democrats still bring a pocket knife to the brawl.
The MAGA goose steppers always fall in line and defend Trump, regardless of the horrid, racist, and un-American things he does and says. They will fall in line again and defend him when he pardons the J6 traitors who violently attacked the police.
"...whining, useless schmucks..."
I agree and disagree. The Democratic 'leadership,' the institutional Democrats, are almost entirely spineless fucking cowards incapable of taking a meaningful stand on anything outside of focus group tested and niche interest pressured posturing of how good, right, and righteous they are. Fighting is in such bad taste, so boorish, so gauche. After all, Chamberlain was a good, moral, righteous man, right? Respectability above all, right?
This is where all attention needs to go - on finding and engendering people, voices, ideas, beliefs, organizations that: 1) do not in any way show obeisance or even deference to the impotent Democratic identity politics of the past sixty years, and closely related: 2) understand that reflexively showing strength, as opposed to reflexively cultivating a persona of being "right" or "good," always - always - wins. More important, it's the only thing that will save us from ourselves. What separates us from them? Wisdom. Love. Respect. Caring. Intelligence. Knowledge. Community. Etc. None of which are exclusive of exercising power and showing strength, which at this point means implacable strength. Unbreakable strength, even when you're not being morally or ethically perfect. Easy? Fuck no. But if non-authoritarians - which until we rewrite our Constitution is the Democratic Party - can't do this, then we're in bad shape not just as a country, but as a species.
"Would a one-party state really be so bad?"
Yes, because it won't be one party. It will be one person.
And if all people that hate Trump will switch off, it will make it easier for him to get there.
Meanwhile I hope Donald does what he said he would do (despite knowing that everything he says is BS), particularly the tariff part. And that everything I learned in Econ classes was right.
Robot dogs stalk Mar-a-Lago,
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c30p16gn3pvo
Well, I learned something today. Who knew that AquaNet hairspray still existed in 2024?!
Guess the current president doesn't require such advanced protection.
It's all a game to him now. Celebrity Apprentice: Trumps Second attempt to be King. He will run his administration like he ran his unethical and morally corrupt business. Is it possible to bankrupt this country? If anyone can it would be Mr. Bancrupt a Casino. More than a month away till the actual shit storm begins. What a shitty new years it's gonna be.
It's like the American body politic is having an out of body experience and discovered its' body is a fat idiot.
+1
The biggest effect I've noticed in myself is a large increase in impatience with legacy media. I've been headed in this direction for a while, but I think '25 is the year I say fuck them all.
I still follow links to stories to stories from decent journos, but I've stopped looking at front pages (except for TPM). My browser tells me the last time I looked at news.google.com was 16 days ago.
It just feels like a perspective change. The attitudes and context of, say, Politico's home page just feel a bit like watching a period piece about ridiculous social score-keeping, and I really just don't care about who sits with whom at the lunch table.
And my boycott of the NYT continues until Kahn is spending more time with his family. Fuck that guy.
Consider the pardon your Declaration of Independence from the mainstream media. Biden doesn't given a fuck what they think, say or write and neither should you. Seriously, fuck these people.
+1
Consider the pardon your declaration from the mainstream media. Biden doesn't given a fuck what they think, say or write and neither should you. Seriously, fuck these people.
You have to care enough to keep up with the news to watch out for Trump’s attempted actions that the checks & balances don't block. If things get bad enough, people will need to take to the streets.
Funny, when Trump lost in 2020, why wife and I spontaneously drove to downtown Dallas to join the celebrations. Strange though, the speakers at gatherings were all far-left activists and they spent their speaking time complaining about how bad Democrats were. Was annoying. So my wife and I just walked around and enjoyed the day knowing that Trump lost.
This is what the beltway media were dreaming of. The drama. The cuckoo-bananas antics day in and day out. The petty personality conflicts, feuds, and in-fighting between Real Housewives rejects vying for staff and cabinet positions. All sauced with non-stop leaks and petty backbiting.
Sure they may all end up in detention camps in the end, but it was a hell of toboggan ride while it lasted!
I'm starting to see the whole Trump thing as a real-life version of the movie Big. Bear with me.
Trump makes a ridiculous wish and inexplicably finds it granted, putting him in a world he is not equipped to navigate. But while in the movie Josh maintains his boyish charm, Trump doesn't have any. All he knows is money and the power that comes with it. His only tools are threats, bluster and intimidation. He bumbles his way through, and like in the movie, he ends up returning home in clothes that are too big for him. But now there's a sequel.
In Trump I he hires what he thinks are competent people, but they only make him feel inferior. The contradiction at the heart of narcissism is the abiding fear that you're not the best at everything and that people will find out. So in the sequel he's not going to make that mistake again. Right now we're just seeing the trailer. The real movie starts on Jan 20, and like most sequels it will be worse than the original.
The right has one clear goal; break the mainstream media. The right has been railing against it for at least 20 years when Dan Rather went on the "fake, but true" act about the Killian documents.
Boy, you have a limited sense of history. Hating the messenger has been going on for 200 years. In the modern era it dates at least to Roosevelt. When I was in high school, NPR ran a series called Vietnam: A Television History, based on Stanley Karnow's book. Republicans produced their own history of Vietnam in response, hosted by Charlton Heston, which purported to prove that the only things that went wrong in the war were all due to the media's false reporting. That was in the 70's, before Rather had even become White House correspondent, let alone anchor.
Trump is like the Boy that Cried "Wolf!"
After a while tiresome people become tiresome.
Unfortunately most tiresome, obtuse people you want to ignore also don't have the nuclear codes.
That thing you're worried about (literally anything)? It's not a big deal to Kevin Drum.
Besides, we still have to annex Greenland.