Tag Archives: Donald Trump

“Trump’s secret police”

I feel like we’ve turned a frightening corner here. Last night was the first time I’ve read the words “Trump’s secret police” — it was a user on Twitter.

Today it appeared in a headline at The Nation.

Republican Steve Schmidt went on Twitter a little while ago and called upon the Governor of Oregon to order the State Police and the National Guard to arrest the unidentified federal forces in unmarked vans who are snatching people off the streets.

Update: Now people are saying it was The Department of Homeland Security. Also: the people were apparently all detained because they were suspected of graffiti offenses?

 

 

(With apologies to T. S. Eliot)

This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but with a “winner.”

 

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(He never tweets back to me. I’m hurt by that.)

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Some brand new curse words!

So I’m sure you guys remember how I’m weird about occasionally trying to run down the origins of various aphorisms …  A while back I tried to look into the (possibly apocryphal?) Chinese curse that people like to quote — “May you live in interesting times.” I posted about it at the end of March.  (It felt timely then, and it still does.)

I stumbled across a three-tiered variant of the saying just yesterday.  As it turns out, the curse in its purported entirety is as follows, or at least according to the Internet:

 

May you live in interesting times.

May you come to the attention of those in authority.

May the gods give you everything you ask for.

 

It’s interesting stuff.  That bit about “the attention of those in authority” feels especially ominous in the Trump Age.

If any of you guys have any insight into exactly where this quote originated, please feel free to chime in.

 

 

Am I just being paranoid? I hope I am.

I honestly don’t know where all of this leads. I’m out of my depth here. Just consider that I am asking the below as QUESTIONS, and I am asking as a layperson where national security is concerned.  And I apologize in advance if I am being alarmist.  I have learned to expect the worst from Donald Trump.

1) If things escalate in Washington, D.C., is it possible that the president could order the military to fire on civilians? Is that the worst-case scenario here?

2) If there is a lasting military presence inside the United States under Trump’s control, does that have implications for election integrity? Could it conceivably mean he is better positioned to interfere with (or suspend) elections?

3) How worried should we be about the reports (and photos) of military units who claim to be with the Department of Justice when asked, but who wear no names or identifying insignia? What is going on with that?

I would love to hear people in the media reporting about this and seeking out informed opinions.

 

 

I still can’t ****ing believe it. 

I still can’t ****ing believe it.  I can’t believe the President of the United States had tear gas and rubber bullets fired at peaceful protesters last night so he could clear the way for a photo op.

This is junta bullshit.

Look at the footage.

Look at the cops beating people with batons so that this ****head could stand in front of a church with a Bible over his head.

This is not America.

 

 

“Friends, Americans, countrymen — lend me your fears.”

Friends, Americans, countrymen — lend me your fears.
I come to divide the nation, not lead it.
The evil that I tweet will live after me;
the truth will be twisted by nationalist drones.
So let it be with America.
My critics say I am dangerous
— is that so grievous a fault?

America, you have enabled me.
Obama; Bush; Bush, Sr.;
and Clinton were honorable men,
Despite their various differences,
all honorable men.
But I’ll make America chaos,
subservient only to me.

My critics say I am dangerous,
and my critics are honorable men.
But did they entertain at great rallies,
where hatred made your heart full?
Is it this that seems dangerous?
When all are are divided, no Union is left;
Nations should be made of sterner stuff.

Oh America, thou art ruled by brutish beasts!
For you have lost your reason!—Bear with me;
My prescription bottle is in my pocket,
And I must pause to tweak.

~ Trumpus Antonius

(c) Eric Robert Nolan 2020

 

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Photo credit: By Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America – Donald Trump, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=49611649

Tweet, Tweet.

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THIS SPACE FOR RENT.

So my latest get-rich-quick scheme is to rent out billboard space on my truly immense damned forehead.  Seriously. Look at that thing.  I do believe that it is actually getting bigger by the year, but I don’t want to follow that thought through to its logical conclusion, because it would mean that I have a receding hairline.

Anyway, the price is negotiable.  No pro-Trump messages, of course.  (And I’m sure the president will be disappointed, because my forehead is the possibly the only space large enough to fit the word “HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE” in big bold letters.)  I cannot ethically advertise any product that exposes credulous white people to questionable chemicals.  So neither will I promote either Essential Oils nor Pumpkin Spice Latte.  When it comes to my giant forehead, With great power comes great responsibility.

Or maybe I could rent the space out as a movie screen, what with drive-ins bouncing back during the pandemic.  You could throw some Alfred Hitchcock up there.

 

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This is a brilliant example of video editing.

Honestly.  I try to refrain from linking to Youtube videos on my blog, but this was too good not to share.  (I am linking here to the PoliticsJOE Youtube channel.)

I’m willing to bet R.E.M. would be proud.