As we discussed in the early Spring, the entirety of Trump's political message is dominance politics. To paraphrase McLuhan it is both the messenger and the message. Trump attacks, others comply and submit. Whether or not that is always true it is the story and the promise he has sold his supporters. Trump's handling of his vice presidential pick casts him in an extremely unflattering light. And yet the heaviest weight undoubtedly falls on Pence. It is simply no accident that those who come into his orbit, who join with him, are rapidly visited with a string of indignities that stand in a bracing contrast to the power and status they earlier enjoyed. On the field of other political actors, other would-be 'alpha males', for Trump you are either his enemy or his property. The only exceptions are those - think of Cruz and Rubio - who remain far enough from Trump's event horizon not to get pulled in.
None of this is an accident. We can confidently expect a string of new indignities for Pence from now until election day.
Is this a political convention or Festivus? The whole first day reads like The Airing of Grievances.![]()
Speaking of, here's the Day One prime time Schedule (I've included the bios for the Designated Victims). Special lulz in bold.
Tonight's themes are "Hillary personally murdered my loved one" and "immigrants are gross and scary."
That'll be news to some of the lovely residents of Fargo. If North Dakota has more trees than black people then where did all of these crime committing, Tuberculosis carrying, benefit mooching, non-English speaking, Sharia law wanting people that Lutheran Social Sevices shipped in come from?
Mr. Obama was supposed to be the great uniter. Instead, there seems to be even more polarization today. Could it be what was alway there is just now exposed? Very possible. But right now in the country I feel lots of heat and see very little light.
Interesting, especially the war with Kasich on the first day of the convention...
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/rnc-2016-republican-dischord-225701
Ya know, if Hillary was at war with the host governor of the swing state where the convention is taking place, why do I think we'd be seeing front page headlines in the Times, Post and everywhere else with the "Dems in Disarray" title attached to it?
So now Trump is declaring war on the Bushes?
Well, after 2.5 hours they're dancing in the aisles and I've got four spaces covered (including three tokens on Reagan). I think I'll call it an afternoon.![]()
Not sure how long it'll take them to hire a black guy under 30. Might take until the 3rd day for that.![]()
If he would roll over on everything the repubs wanted there would be peace and harmony. So he really is the great divider.The day he was elected, the country was in a disastrous war the price for which we have not yet fully determined and an economy that was in the worst shape it had been in 4 or 5 generations. AND, GOP political leaders and widely followed social commentators openly and expressly declared their intent to oppose anything Obama tried to accomplish while in office. The party has championed high ranking politicians like Trump whose SOP is to demonize any person or idea that is not in his best interest and cultural flag-bearers like Joe the Plumber who stands for hatred of anything created by or overseen by the federal government. The GOP's core value and practice has been obfuscation and fear mongering.
There are certainly many complex reasons why our society has become more polarized, but to blame it on Obama is just simple minded blindness, IMO. Blame him for other disappointments, but that??
I figured the best chance was when the College Republican leaders were speaking and they were making a point to show as many young people in the audience as they could. Didn't see any. Granted, the arena is half empty, but it doesn't bode well for that space.
I assume she is literally the only young black woman he has ever been in proximity to other than at a pageant or the suck-off session the night before the pageant.
He would have been better off using somebody from the suck-off session then.