The patient is feverish and agitated

Written by

Ophelia Benson

in

Tweeter Donald is being especially disgusting today.

We know there’s a core of people who love this terrible malevolent fraudulent greedy man. We know that. But it’s a small core and it’s shrinking.

The fascist calls the bulk of the most established US news media “fake.” He’ll be having journalists killed next.

I wish that were true.

Well, yes, because lying about one’s personal military history isn’t quite the same thing as colluding with a hostile foreign power to steal an election.

Comments

6 responses to “The patient is feverish and agitated”

  1. Blood Knight in Sour Armor Avatar
    Blood Knight in Sour Armor

    I wish you were joking about him having journalists killed…

    Of course, he doesn’t need to have them killed; he can just get them killed instead. Same result.

  2. Ophelia Benson Avatar
    Ophelia Benson

    Yeah, I wasn’t. I don’t think it’s likely, but I also don’t think it’s impossible. Putin does, why wouldn’t Trump?

  3. iknklast Avatar
    iknklast

    Working hard from New Jersey

    How many times now has he mentioned he’s “working hard”? How many times did Obama have to tweet to tell us he was “working hard”? Maybe because when Obama was working, we could tell.

    I have been working hard all day, even on my summer vacation, to get ready for fall classes. There, now I’m keeping up with the President. Just thought you should know.

  4. Acolyte of Sagan Avatar
    Acolyte of Sagan

    A minor point, but I predict that by the time Trump returns to Washington it’ll be to the newly vandalised renovated #Fake Goldhouse.

  5. Karellen Avatar
    Karellen

    Do people think that von Clownstick’s digs at the media have risen (fallen?) to the level of genuinely being stochastic terrorism[0] yet?

    It seems odd to me, because while he says a lot of horrible things about “the fake news media”, he rarely seems to be angry about it. Most of the classic examples of stochastic terrorism that I’m aware of rely, in large part, on the instigator being visibly angry, and trying to stir up uncontrollable rage in their audience. von Clownstick, however, mostly has that goofy half-grin on his face as he pokes at the media, as if he thinks he’s engaging in light-hearted joshing, or banter.

    [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stochastic_terrorism

  6. Jeff Engel Avatar
    Jeff Engel

    Re #5 and Trump not seeming angry enough for typical stochastic terrorism –

    Some of it is live or on TV where his face is visible or tone audible; some of it is on Twitter where it is not. He certainly seems angry on Twitter, and the consistency and venom of it will help the dehumanization of his targets among his followers. (And of course, that this is coming from the President of the United States (!) gives it so much weight among authoritarian types specifically.) When he’s “joked” about being able to murder people in public without repercussions, when he’s offered to pay bills for assault charges, when it’s been that specific that often… that he’s signalling that he’s “joking” doesn’t reduce the effectiveness much, particularly when he’s not capable of conveying actual humor.

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