National Prayer Oatmeal
Where to begin…
Trump made his debut at a ludicrous institution called “the National Prayer Breakfast” – which is obviously something secular governments should ignore. He covered all the bases by attending the theocratic nightmare, and then insulting it and everyone present by talking about…Arnold Schwarzenegger and Celebrity Apprentice? I don’t know, that sounds like a joke, but the Post is reporting it as fact.
The comments were an unusual start to the bipartisan breakfast. But they were not so unusual for a president who prides himself on putting on a good show and garnering good ratings.
He has taken Schwarzenegger to task in the past for low ratings and accused the former California governor of siding with his political opponent, Hillary Clinton.
Schwarzenegger fired back on Twitter with a video responding directly to the president’s comments.
“Hey Donald, I have a great idea. Why don’t we switch jobs,” Schwarzenegger said. “You take over TV, because you’re such an expert in ratings and I take over your job and Then people can finally sleep comfortably again.”
Or we could find someone with actual education and training in a field relevant to the job. Zany, I know, but it’s a thought.
Eventually he cut to the chase and promised to make the US even more theocratic than it already is.
The president also declared that he would work to repeal the Johnson Amendment, which prohibits some tax-exempt groups from endorsing political candidates. And he pledged to protect religious freedom.
“I will get rid of and totally destroy the Johnson Amendment and allow our representatives of faith to speak freely and without fear of retribution,” Trump said. “I want to express clearly today to the American people that my administration will do everything in its power to defend and protect religious liberty in our land.”
Nope. Religious freedom includes freedom from religion, which requires secular government.
Also, presidents don’t have the power to “get rid of and totally destroy” existing legislation. He doesn’t have dictatorial powers, yet.
To be fair to Schwarzenegger, he at least does have SOME experience at governance. My understanding is that while he wasn’t particularly good, he wasn’t a complete disaster for California, either. So yes, he is infinitely more qualified to the job than Donnie from Queens. (And hey, at least he’s a Republican willing to stand up to Trump. That’s… sadly rare, and with his star power, he might be able to give some cover to those looking for a graceful out.)
I know. In reality of course I would find him a relief – but that just shows how low the bar has been pushed.
Bipartisan? Pull the other one.
I recall from ‘The Family’ that these ridiculous min-festivals of theocratic arrogance were started by quite specific far-Right agitators back in the Eisenhower days…
Yes, John, but Democrats have been bullied, coerced, or shamed into joining in. They eagerly go and pray publicly, so everyone can see that they are good, red-blooded, Christian Americans. So they are due some of the scorn.
Yeah, it just means that, here, sadly, “bipartisan” does not exclude far-right and left-hostile. We’ve got a center-right party and a fascist one. First-past-the-post voting marginalizes third parties awfully, so the Democrats have been able for decades to count on the left to choose them as the lesser of two evils so long as they are just enough to the left of the Republicans, who are themselves free to be as far right as they care to be.
I’ve lived in California for going on two decades, and the Gropinator was a disaster for the state. This is the sixth or seventh largest economy in the world, and he managed to push it toward bankruptcy before Brown — called Moonbeam for being such a la-la hippy — managed to reinject fiscal sanity (using a millionaires’ tax! who could have imagined?!).
And he wasn’t nicknamed the Gropinator for nothing.
He was godawful.
By the standards of the mid-oughts. At this point, if Agent Orange took him up on his offer to switch jobs, I’d cheer. :BOGGLE: