With all that’s going on, Trump has stayed locked in with his Twitter. Not for him the address to the nation filled with compassion and a sense of justice.

That was by design. Trump and some of his advisers calculated that he should not speak to the nation because he had nothing to say, according to a senior administration official. He had no tangible policy or action to announce, nor did he feel an urgent motivation to try to bring people together. So he stayed silent.

It’s nice to know that he specifically did not feel like trying to bring people together, so decided to rage at us on Twitter instead.

The United States is visibly, painfully broken by the

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Hur hur. Misogyny? Us?? Neverrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Dear @jk_rowling. How are you? I drew a picture of The Ickabog and I hope you include it in your book! pic.twitter.com/ISSr30aNOM

— ROU Frank Exchange of Wooloos (@mockferret) May 29, 2020

Funny what a lot these “activists” have in common with Trump – the hatred of women, the slavering over projected violence, the contempt for women, the longing to see snarling dogs tear people to bits…… Read the rest

They all wish Trump would stop talking.

The President tweeted on Saturday that if protesters breached the White House’s fence, they would “have been greeted with the most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons, I have ever seen.” And he called on Democratic officials to “get MUCH tougher” or the federal government “will step in and do what has to be done, and that includes using the unlimited power of our Military and many arrests.”

On Sunday, Trump tweeted his thanks to the National Guard and the job they did in Minneapolis Saturday night before calling for the National Guard to be used in “Other Democrat run Cities and States.”

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Elected officials on both sides of the aisle

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Earlier today, a number of advisers spent time telling the president not to tweet and going over why it was making things worse. Now, he’s tweeting folks using QANon slogans. https://t.co/FHBvuAsPvt

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) May 31, 2020

I’d love to know more about the advisers telling him why not to tweet. Anyway sure enough, he’s pouring gasoline on the fire with all the strength in his thumbs.

Congratulations to our National Guard for the great job they did immediately upon arriving in Minneapolis, Minnesota, last night. The ANTIFA led anarchists, among others, were shut down quickly. Should have been done by Mayor on first night and there would have been no trouble!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 31,

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JK Rowling is easily in the top 5 worst people on this site. Her abhorrent views combined with her determination to sue any critic into silence makes her beneath contempt.

— Craig Gallagher (@CraigGaIIagher) May 30, 2020

These guys are so lucky to live at this hour – when suddenly misogyny is the most progressive thing on the menu, as long as you can shield it with the pretense of “transphobia.” Ten years ago it just would not have been cool to call a female novelist one of the 5 worst people on Twitter, but now it makes you…well it makes you a misogynist shit, but Craig Gallagher seems not to realize it.… Read the rest

Karen Tumulty in the Post yesterday:

It’s a good thing Donald Trump wasn’t president during the civil rights movement. Judging by his tweets, Trump would have been tempted to award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Theophilus Eugene “Bull” Connor, the notorious Alabama public safety commissioner.

Tempted shmempted; he would have done it.

Nearly six decades later, the man who sits in the White House is channeling his inner Bull Connor, unable to contain his eagerness to see play out on his own front lawn the vile tactics that Connor employed against civil rights marchers. In a giddy tweetstorm on Saturday morning, Trump let loose about how excited he would have been to see protesters who showed up across

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Trump has given up on doing the G7 meeting in June so now his red-hot plan is to hold the G19 or something in September so that he can invite Russia. The slight problem there is that the rest of the G7 doesn’t want to invite Russia. At all.

Trump’s new plan, outlined to reporters on Saturday, is to host an expanded G7 meeting including Russia, Australia, South Korea and India, dedicated to building an alliance against China. The plan is likely to be controversial because Russia has been banned from western-led summits since Putin’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, and is not seen as a natural ally in the defence of human rights in Hong Kong.

Or anywhere … Read the rest

The Guardian notes that Trump isn’t altogether the ideal person to be president at a moment when systemic racism is in the spotlight.

Trump, who forged his political identity in racist conspiracy theories about Barack Obama’s birthplace, has proved unable to articulate the accumulated pain of black Americans over 400 years of slavery, segregation and police brutality, now exacerbated by a pandemic that has taken a disproportionate toll on communities of colour. Instead he has resorted to a series of tweets that critics found divisive, inflammatory and self-serving.

As if it even occurred to him to try to articulate the accumulated pain of black Americans over 400 years of slavery, segregation and police brutality. Ever. In his entire life.

With

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Adding a few more because the venom dressed up as feisty girly sass is remarkable.

She is transphobic tho. https://t.co/ROR0PiK3ar

— The Socially Distant Shelf (@secondshelfbks) May 30, 2020

Can't believe we have to explain we're a bookshop, Jessie.

A bookshop that sells books by women who exist. https://t.co/3ymlx6QWQz

— The Socially Distant Shelf (@secondshelfbks) May 31, 2020

It is truly amazing when people are out there on the streets putting their lives at risk to fight for basic human rights we find our feed buried in tweets of white people very concerned for a billionaire writer who made her own choices. Get your priorities straight.

— The Socially Distant Shelf (@secondshelfbks) May 31, 2020

I particularly despise that theft … Read the rest

A Twitter account that claims to be a bookshop for women…

Oops. She blocked a bookstore of books by women. We're sure that was a mistake. pic.twitter.com/q1jWMIIhk3

— The Socially Distant Shelf (@secondshelfbks) May 29, 2020

I wonder why Rowling blocked this bookshop for women.

She doesn't believe trans people exist. Or should have the same rights. She tweeted her views on accident in a post meant for children. What if that child was trans? https://t.co/w1a6EDVjMZ

— The Socially Distant Shelf (@secondshelfbks) May 29, 2020

Oh. I guess that’s why. Claims of the “she doesn’t believe trans people should have rights” type – lies, in short. Possibly also the illiteracy – “on accident” “what if that child was trans” – … Read the rest

Meanwhile

President Trump moved to protect regulations issued by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos that restrict federal student loan forgiveness in a veto issued Friday night. Several veterans’ groups have argued that the rules, which make it more difficult for student borrowers to prove that a college defrauded them, will harm former service members cheated by for-profit colleges, the New York Times reports.

In other words, for-profit colleges, which are a scam to begin with, have won a victory over the students they cheat. Of course Trump is down with that: he’s one of the scammers. Remember Trump “University”? Which was in no way a university, and took people’s money for very nearly nothing?

Trump said the vetoed legislation “sought

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That’s not the only mud Harrop threw at Rowling today.

https://twitter.com/AdrianHarrop/status/1266654521888997376 https://twitter.com/AdrianHarrop/status/1266657728090570753

How insensitive.… Read the rest

Aw, poor DOCTOR Adrian Harrop has had to apologize to JK Rowling.

It was not my intention to equate the actions or beliefs of @jk_rowling with those of Jimmy Saville in any way, and I apologise unreservedly for any misinterpretation of what I did say. I hereby formally retract the statement, which was both poorly worded and insensitive.

— Dr Adrian Harrop (@AdrianHarrop) May 30, 2020

Rowling raises an eyebrow.

‘Insensitive’.

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) May 30, 2020

He’s not a bully, he’s not he’s not he’s NOT. He’s just inthenthitive.

What did he say?

Replying to @StandWithMaya

Jimmy Saville was the UK’s most popular children’s entertainer at the height of his career, & one of the most famous men

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President Trump today as the national remains on edge: “MAGA is make America great again. By the way, they love African-American people, they love black people. MAGA loves the black people.”

— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) May 30, 2020

He said that??

How to the black people pic.twitter.com/iCBXIKTI8N

— Sarah Cooper (@sarahcpr) May 30, 2020

He said it.… Read the rest

The Guardian on Trump’s repulsive excitement about the vicious dogs and big big guns all ready to massacre protesters:

Donald Trump has praised the US Secret Service for confronting protesters who massed outside the White House on Friday night, tweeting that had any of the crowd breached the fence, they “would have been greeted with the most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons, I have ever seen”.

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On Friday night, as protests reached the White House gates, Trump turned back to incendiary tweeting, electioneering on the back of protests, riots and looting in cities across the US.

Outside the White House, people hurled bricks, bottles and other objects at Secret Service and US park police officers in riot gear

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It’s not the first time. Reuters February 2016:

Presidential candidate Donald Trump admires the late Douglas MacArthur and George Patton, both World War Two generals. They were winners, unpredictable, and not especially nice guys, he says in campaign speeches. But Trump’s pledge to imitate their styles sets modern-day military experts on edge.

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The candidate’s spokeswoman Hope Hicks said Trump made a habit of citing the two World War Two figures to “emphasize the need to strengthen the U.S. military, talk less and do more to protect America.”

Talk less! Nobody talks more than Trump. Trump literally never shuts up.

But hey – the movie.

There are scholar presidents, and presidents who don’t read much, and then there

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How about this one? Do we agree that this is fascist?

Mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis will never be mistaken for the late, great General Douglas McArthur or great fighter General George Patton. How come all of these places that defend so poorly are run by Liberal Democrats? Get tough and fight (and arrest the bad ones). STRENGTH!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 30, 2020

McArthur and Patton…what is it that they have in common? Oh yes – being busted.

When your heroes are people who were removed from power for being insubordinate violent assholes. https://t.co/Tmhll5bM2n

— Seth Masket (@smotus) May 30, 2020

Let’s hear some praise for Lieutenant Calley now, and how about that fabulous General Dyer?… Read the rest

Tim Murphy at Mother Jones says Minneapolis is Trump’s campaign dream.

Rioters in the city were “THUGS,” he wrote, and he proposed sending in the National Guard to “get the job done right.” In a tweet so depraved that Twitter appended a disclaimer, he quoted an infamous 1960s Miami cop: “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.”

Trump’s comments weren’t just those of a head of state addressing unrest in a major city. They were also the words of a candidate for reelection who believes that what happens in Minnesota could make or break his chances this fall. The president has made repeated campaign stops in the state over the last four years; in threatening violence against protesters, he

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So Nicola Spurling deleted that defamatory tweet, and then reiterated the ideology.

With that said, I stand behind the intent of the tweet, which is to highlight the dangerous nature of transphobia. Children are particularly vulnerable and must be accepted for who they are, not told that who they are is wrong. With great power comes great responsibility.

— Nicola Spurling for Coquitlam-Maillardville (@NicESpurling) May 30, 2020

“Children must be accepted for who they are, not told that who they are is wrong.”

But who is it that actually tells children that who they are is wrong? Who is it that refuses to accept them for who they are?

Spurling of course is claiming that it’s people who don’t believe … Read the rest

Merkel says no, she’s not going to Trump’s party.

“The federal chancellor thanks President Trump for his invitation to the G7 summit at the end of June in Washington. As of today, considering the overall pandemic situation, she cannot agree to her personal participation, to a journey to Washington,” German government spokesman Steffen Seibert told POLITICO Friday.

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Merkel’s refusal to attend the summit in person risks scuppering Trump’s attempts to present the gathering as a landmark moment drawing a line under the lockdowns and travel bans imposed to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

You know what else risks scuppering that? The coronavirus pandemic. It hasn’t gone anywhere, so drawing a line under the lockdowns and travel bans would be … Read the rest