Friday, November 18, 2016

Donald Trump and the Strangelove Nightmare



For a moment yesterday I thought we were saved.

When news leaked out that Donald Trump might make Mitt Romney his Secretary of State instead of the sleazy Rudy Giuliani. 

Or the mad bomber John Bolton. 

John Bolton, a top candidate to serve as President-elect Donald Trump’s secretary of state, is publicly calling for the U.S. to help overthrow the existing government in Iran.

But sadly that moment of relief didn't last long, because then I heard that Trump is planning to make this maniac his national security adviser.



The mad general Michael Flynn.

President-elect Donald J. Trump has offered the post of national security adviser to Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, potentially putting a retired intelligence officer who believes Islamist militancy poses an existential threat in one of the most powerful roles in shaping military and foreign policy, according to a top official on Mr. Trump’s transition team.

The man some call "America's angriest general."  

Mr. Trump and General Flynn both see themselves as brash outsiders who hustled their way to the big time. They both post on Twitter often about their own successes, and they have both at times crossed the line into outright Islamophobia.

They also both exhibit a loose relationship with facts: General Flynn, for instance, has said that Shariah, or Islamic law, is spreading in the United States (it is not). His dubious assertions are so common that when he ran the Defense Intelligence Agency, subordinates came up with a name for the phenomenon: They called them “Flynn facts.”


Who as the Democrats point out, is NOT the kind of man to share the nuclear button with Donald Trump. 

“Ideally, the president-elect, who strikes me as someone with an impulsive personality, ought to have someone who is a stable hand smoothing out the rough, impetuous edges of the president,” Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said at a conference in Washington on Thursday. 

“The impression I have of Gen. Flynn is that he has a like personality to the president-elect.”

Because we might survive Trump, and we might survive Flynn, but our chances of surviving both of them are slim to nonexistent.

For Flynn makes Dr Strangelove's General Jack D. Ripper look almost sane...



You know Ripper, the general who sends a squadron of nuclear bombers to attack the Soviet Union for no good reason.

And if Flynn is left alone with the paranoid orange oaf who knows what might happen...



Especially if America's angriest general is joined in the situation room by his chief of staff, his own crazy bigoted son. 

The son of top Donald Trump adviser and retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn regularly shares conspiracy theories, expletive-filled posts, and racially insensitive sentiments on Twitter and Facebook, a CNN KFile review of his social media presence reveals.

In a Facebook post from October, Flynn shared a fake news story claiming Obama flaunted an erection to female reporters in 2008.


And let's not forget that Trump has also appointed the notorious climate change denier Myron Ebell to dismantle the Environmental Protection Agency.

kooky kook whose record speaks for itself.



Ebell is the director of the Center for Energy and Environment at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, which, among other things, runs the website, SafeChemicalPolicy.org, that, according to Tom Philpott at Mother Jones, “exists to downplay the health and ecological impacts of chemicals.”

Ebell’s beliefs (or lack thereof when it comes to climate change) have him so vilified, he was featured on a poster plastered around Paris during the UN climate talks last year, naming him one of seven “climate criminals”responsible for destroying our future.


So one way or another the planet doesn't stand a chance, and neither do its children.

Great eh?

Damn you dirty old white racists who voted for Trump so he could drag us back to the past. Damn you dumbass young people who wasted your ballots, or didn't bother to vote, and surrendered your future.

You should have known how this story would end...



I wish I could smack you in the face with a baseball bat, and knock some sense into you.

But it's too late for that.

And at least you will burn with the rest of us...

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

On one hand, Ebell and Trump cynically deny climate change as an excuse for doing nothing. On the other, Obama and Clinton accept the threat of climate change but fail to take it seriously.

Clinton chose Ken Salazar as her transition director. Had she won, he would now be setting up her administration. This is the same Ken Salazar who as Interior Secretary opened the door to Arctic oil drilling and on return to the private sector became an oil company lobbyist. I don't see him counselling effective action on climate change, just as I don't see Ebell doing so.

Only the Green Party committed to transition the US to 100% clean energy by 2030. Yet you berate the "dumbass young people" who "wasted their ballots" by voting Green. You might want to re-evalute who you're calling "dumbass."

A Political Junkie said...

While the media focuses on Donald Trump, they seem to be forgetting about his Vice President. Here is a look at how Mike Pence voted on key issues while he was in Congress:

http://viableopposition.blogspot.ca/2016/07/mike-pences-past_15.html

His past views and Congressional voting record on many key issues put him further into the far right side of the political spectrum than Donald Trump.

Anonymous said...

Thank God he didn't appointment the radical zionist Bolton. He'd bomb the shit out of the middle east for israel.

-MC

Anonymous said...

To all the smug Canadians: We too are totally fucked by the inbred hillbillies in the US who voted Trump into the White House. They've screwed us all. Even Jesus (aka Trudeau) can't save us.

Anonymous said...

And now Jeff Sessions announced as attorney general lol. What's next, David Duke for press secretary?

-MC

Anonymous said...

Dumb ass voters perhaps, baseball bat no,the crisis has been coming for some time and the election of Trump just expedited it.

How America (the epicenter) got here is no mystery although the outcome still is. In the broadest sense there are two basic types of interaction. One is cooperative where conflict is eventually resolved with solutions that benefit both parties; at least to some extent.The other interaction is competitive with winners and losers.
The Republicans are diehard competitors with the vision that "Team America" is in a life and death struggle for the World Domination Cup.The Democrats represent the cooperative side of America by seeking out win/win solutions through trade and innovation.It is unreasonable to expect that these two conflicting systems could coexist forever.Given enough time it is likely the cooperators would have developed acceptable solutions to harness the Republican's competitive energy in a beneficial manner ..Saturday afternoon virtual war games /space exploration etc. However the ongoing conflict has taken its toll... the worst of both approaches .. no world cup of domination and squandered benefits from global cooperation and innovation.The people are weary and want it resolved, battle lines were drawn, strategies developed ... then along came Trump with a third option. Lets treat America like a real estate project and build a beautiful palace where everyone has a function in supporting its awesomeness! Anyone that might track mud on its floors or otherwise detract from its beauty should pack their bags immediately.
So now there are three competing visions, the world cup, America the real estate project and the global community option with all its warts and many compromises. Who will win .. perhaps no one or perhaps with the right push the competing Trumpsters and Re-Cons will destroy each other. Building a palace is primarily internally focused whereas the world cup is primarily external .. not enough resources for both but the devious Trump may need a good external conflict to short circuit the internal impediments to his MAGA development project.The Democrats really need to think through their strategy .. solid push back with some form of compromise in the short term may be better than forcing the religious war card where everyone looses. Treachery is another option but better left to the warriors.
RT

Anonymous said...

"Damn you dirty old white racists who voted for Trump so he could drag us back to the past."

Oh no, it's not the past. To quote The Dauphin it's... The Current Year.

David said...

Excellent summation: Inside the Trump Campaign

CNN LIVE EVENT/SPECIAL
Panel Discusses Trump Victory. Aired 9-10p ET
Aired November 17, 2016 - 21:00 ET

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1611/17/se.01.html

David said...

Does CNN panelist Kayleigh McEnany actually believe what she says on-air?

She is arguably the best political parser in the business (or an android). I cannot figure out which.

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/11/cnn-panelist-shames-kayleigh-mcenany-for-disgraceful-defense-of-racist-and-anti-semite-steve-bannon/

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/14/politics/panelists-clash-over-internment-camp-rumors-cnntv/

https://mediamatters.org/video/2016/11/18/cnn-reza-aslan-schools-trump-surrogate-bigoted-nature-trumps-proposed-muslim-ban/214568

David said...

WHO WILL BE PRESIDENT TRUMP’S DR. STRANGELOVE?
https://theintercept.com/2016/11/11/who-will-be-president-trumps-dr-strangelove/

Please Advise! What’s a Sane Person to Do in a Trumpian World?
http://www.thetyee.ca/Opinion/2016/11/19/What-Sane-Person-Do-Trumpian-World/

Donald Trump's first leadership picks: Racists, autocrats, and crooks, oh my!
http://theweek.com/articles/662848/donald-trumps-first-leadership-picks-racists-autocrats-crooks-oh

David said...

Dr. Strangelove (7/8) Movie CLIP - Kong Rides the Bomb (1964) HD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snTaSJk0n_Y&list=PLPLn9kZxo8qamb7R3NWcX5J3iWnb2IXct-x

David said...

No. David Duke has been tapped for deputy attorney-general.

Steve said...

Trump found the only 69 year old member of the Alabama ruling class who does not have racism in his heart.

Simon said...

hi anon...while the Obama record was not perfect, he did advance the battle against climate change. Ken Salazar is not as bad as Myron Ebell, whose insane record as I pointed out cannot be matched. And those who voted for the Green Party only helped Trump get elected, and helped torch the planet. There is no other way to describe the situation and it couldn't be more catastrophic...

Simon said...

hi political junkie...you're absolutely right, Pence is a rabid religious fanatic, and a fierce enemy of women and LGBT rights. And you're right we're screwed. If Trump should keel over, or be arrested for fraud, we would be left with Pence and he might very well be worse. And that's what happens when progressives don't unite against the real enemy, or don't bother to vote....

Simon said...

hi MC...well I'm glad that eve you agree that Bolton would be a disaster. The fact that he is even in the running terrifies me. For the thought of attacking Iran like the U.S. attacked Iraq would almost certainly lead to catastrophe, and we'd have Shia terrorists as well as Sunni terrorists coming down on us like rain...

Simon said...

hi anon...I wouldn't go that far. Despite the Con clown Kellie Leitch pretending to be our Trump, and although some would be homegrown Trumpists have engaged in some deplorable acts of racist vandalism, most Canadians are staying cool and setting a good example for the rest of the world. As for Justin Trudeau, he will have to tread carefully when dealing with Trump,. But he is considered by many all over the world to be the anti-Trump, so that should help him...

Simon said...

hi MC...I don't know what other surprises Trump has in store for us, but Sessions as attorney general is really bad news for women, and Black and LGBT people, and should terrify everyone. The man reminds me of Alabama's other favourite son George Wallace, and it really is deplorable...

Simon said...

hi RT...thank you for your thoughtful comment. And yes I was wrong to talk about baseball bats, I should have just stuck to slapping them silly, or in this case smart. ;)But yes, the Trump victory needs to be a wake up call for progressives. There are powerful forces at play in America and all over the world, and the left should be harnessing them instead of the right. The good news is that some in the Democratic Party seem to recognize that, and hopefully the establishment can be replaced with the kind of people Bernie Sanders favours. For only they can dislodge Trump and set the U.S. on a better and less warlike course...

Simon said...

hi anon...no, the Trump Republicans are trying to drag that country back to the 1950s, and thanks to Justin Trudeau and the Liberals, and the good sense of the Canadian people, we are indeed living in 2016...

Anonymous said...

Difference being, Wallace apologized and tried to make amends for his horrifying actions.

e.a.f. said...

once Trump has his cabinet of "deplorables" in place the rest of the world can simply ignore them. So some idiot wants to invade Iran. Good luck with that. the Americans may find they are in trouble then with a shit load of other countries many members of NATO. Trump may also find he doesn't have the Armed Forces to do the work with. There isn't any reason to invade Iran and many Americans may simply not be interested in that type of work. O.K. perhaps some of those aging angry white guys are game, but they an army don't make.

Anonymous said...

I'm afraid your wrong on this. Ebell and Salazar are both oil company shills. Their methods are different but their goal is the same: to preserve oil company profits. Any serious action on climate change will decimate those.

As well, Clinton didn't lose because of Green voters. Even if you assign every Green vote to her, she still loses in the Electoral College, which is the only place that counts.