President Rejected Trump 50: Patient Zero of the White House Covid Cluster

[onekidanddone]

1 hour ago, Dandruff said:

I live in a DC suburb and have no idea whether it'll be safe to go out later this week.  I expect there to be an uproar by whichever the losing side is.  Hope it doesn't spill out of the city.

I live in the DMV as well.  I think foolishly that in my little Montgomery County bubble I’m safe. 

[GreyhoundFan]

6 minutes ago, onekidanddone said:

I live in the DMV as well.  I think foolishly that in my little Montgomery County bubble I’m safe. 

I'm hoping that my corner of western Fairfax won't be a hot spot.

[Smee]

2 hours ago, ignorantobserver said:

Really stupid question, I am sincerely wondering about that : do you really, honestly think anyone could wage a two-sided war against the US army, with home-made drones and veterans ? I don't know enough about military infrastructure, but wouldn't drones be completely useless without the corresponding satellites / software ? How much useful knowledge can individual ex-soldiers possess, without access to current intelligence or the weapons they have trained with, assuming that most of them are going to be... well, probably not highly educated engineers or officers ? What could they accomplish without airplanes ? helicopters ? night-vision whatchamacallit ? I love Rambo as much as anyone, but that's not reality, that's a macho fantasy with a superhero protagonist...

 

It depends on a lot of things, the biggest one being how many of them there are and how well they can organise themselves, but I don’t think it’s completely outside the realm of possibility. I don’t necessarily think it’s *likely*, but possible, yes. Helicopters and night vision are good for attacking military targets, less so when the enemy are building weapons and holding strategy meetings on US soil in the daytime next to an elementary school - for that sort of thing you need good intelligence and armed raids. The Boston bombers supposedly got their instructions off the internet and there were only two of them; there are thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands, of diehard Trumpers. And drones are only the latest example of consumer technology being adapted to cause havoc. Who knows what else people will come up with. See, for example https://warontherocks.com/2020/09/terror-and-technology-from-dynamite-to-drones/
 

There’s also the question of current members of the military seeing it as fighting against their own interests, or their communities. There’s a big difference between US soldiers following orders and acting against enemies overseas, and them taking out thousands of their own citizens. They may see them as homegrown terrorists, but that’s not a given, especially if Sgt Smith’s own politics happen to align and he voted for the loser. We know the police sure as shit limit who they’re willing to keep safe and who they’re only too happy to fight, why should the military be any different? 

Four years ago I thought it was completely far fetched that a celebrity businessman with multiple bankruptcies and divorces under his belt would be the President of the United States and attempting to turn it into a kleptocracy, but here we are. Nothing is crazy to me anymore.

 

[onekidanddone]

My name isn’t on the list thank goodness  

 

Spoiler

 

[Smee]

Top 10 most common names... like, of people alive in the US? As a follower of names and naming trends, to me this points to an age trend more than anything else. It's far more common now to be given a name outside the top 100 than it was a generation ago, and the top ten covers a much smaller percentage of the total babies born in a given year than it used to. Many of those are also names that I strongly associate with people 60+ - I don't know anyone called Patricia or Barbara, and the only two Nancys I've known are both at least mid-50s if not older. Interesting, anyway.

[thoughtful]

19 minutes ago, Smee said:

Many of those are also names that I strongly associate with people 60+ - I don't know anyone called Patricia or Barbara, and the only two Nancys I've known are both at least mid-50s if not older.

I grew up with Patricias, Barbaras, Nancys, Lindas, Marys and Susans, born in the 1950s.  But, as a teacher, I've rarely heard those names in the thousands of kids I've met since.

Robert and Richard also strike me as mostly being names of my contemporaries. The Jennifer surge was in the 1970s.

Elizabeth and Michael are eternal - I never taught a year without several!

Of course, regardless of their ages, I'm pissed off that any of them are voting for Trump. This boomer, and her 90-something-year-old mother, voted for Biden, as did most of the people I know, of any age.

Edited November 3, 2020 by thoughtful
redundancy removed

[Cartmann99]

2 hours ago, onekidanddone said:

I live in the DMV as well.  I think foolishly that in my little Montgomery County bubble I’m safe. 

I know that means DC, Maryland, and Virginia in your neck of the woods, but it's the Department of Motor Vehicles where I live and I had this sudden urge to send you a fruit basket or something because Rufus bless, that would suck!

[Ozlsn]

20 hours ago, fraurosena said:

It's a miracle he hasn't done it sooner.

 

Fauci is going to be so happy if the orange man leaves.  

13 hours ago, ignorantobserver said:

The US are a really interesting case because they are one of the oldest functioning democracies, and they have been historically very stable. A lot of these "dysfunctions" are due to the fact that the constitution is quite old and doesn't reflect the administrative situation of the modern world as well as it used to. Are there amendments / ameliorations that could mitigate these effects in your opinion ? Could the electoral college for example be abolished, as the logistic constraints that made it necessary don't exist any longer ?

That's certainly the favorite fantasy of those pro-gun people, to be able to wage a civil war. I don't know much about the topic, but I am very sceptical when it comes to these power fantasies - the US has by far the most powerful military in the world. Warfare has changed since the Civil War, and I just don't see a group of thugs with shotguns (even several tens of thousands thugs with shotguns) stand any chance whatsoever against a squad of professional snipers. Heck, military technology has advanced to a point where soldiers don't even have to put themselves in danger anymore. One drone and your drunk, disorganised Trump-supporters are dead. How could they hope to achieve anything ? They would just get themselves (and probably a lot of civilians) killed for no reason.

Edit : Obviously, this is still a nightmarish scenario, and would certainly plunge the country into chaos for weeks. But still. Is there really a sizeable population of Trump supporters who are sufficiently disconnected from reality to believe that they could win an armed conflict against the US military ? And how many of these people (who have never known anything but peace, safety and modern comfort) would keep it up once confronted with the reality of war ? The whole idea seems so... well, decadent. As if they had lived in peace for too long and forgotten what war actually means. Or do they watch too many action movies ? Sorry, I am not at all doubting what you are saying, your concerns are very serious and alarming - I just can't quite wrap my head around the fact that people would fantazise about joining a faction in a civil war.

 

 

11 hours ago, ignorantobserver said:

Really stupid question, I am sincerely wondering about that : do you really, honestly think anyone could wage a two-sided war against the US army, with home-made drones and veterans ? I don't know enough about military infrastructure, but wouldn't drones be completely useless without the corresponding satellites / software ? How much useful knowledge can individual ex-soldiers possess, without access to current intelligence or the weapons they have trained with, assuming that most of them are going to be... well, probably not highly educated engineers or officers ? What could they accomplish without airplanes ? helicopters ? night-vision whatchamacallit ? I love Rambo as much as anyone, but that's not reality, that's a macho fantasy with a superhero protagonist...

An insurgency is far more likely - same as in Iraq and Afghanistan. Smaller targets, civilians by day, attacks on low risk high gain targets. Asymmetrical warfare is basically the only option - it ties up police and army, it militarizes the society, and when mistakes happen (and they will) they gain support from more of the population. Why faff around with drones when you can set off a bomb in a crowded liberal lecture theatre? 

Basically similar to attacks on abortion clinics but larger scale - I can also see ongoing terrorism threats against certain neighbourhoods as has happened in several US cities over the summer.  You don't need huge amounts of organisation, just autonomous cells. 

I sincerely hope the structures of the democracy hold and that everything is peaceful. But yeah, I'm afraid as well. 

[fraurosena]

Simply delicious!

 

[Jana814]

I really hope Trump doesn’t win tonight. I have a feeling that if he doesn’t win certain states he is going to through the biggest fit. 

[GreyhoundFan]

He wouldn't know a bold vision or sweeping, idealistic theme if they bit him in his ample ass.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

Such a moron...

 

[GreyhoundFan]

Boy, he does know how to whine.

 

He sounds terrible. I wish he'd lose his voice. The world would be so much quieter.

 

[TuringMachine]

1 minute ago, GreyhoundFan said:

Boy, he does know how to whine.

 

He sounds terrible. I wish he'd lose his voice. The world would be so much quieter.

 

You'd need to cut his access to twitter too.

[47of74]

I hope fuck nugget's wikipedia page looks like this in about a year.

Quote

Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American convicted felon who was the 45th president of the United States. Before entering politics, he was a businessman and television personality.  After leaving the White House in 2021 Trump was charged with multiple Federal and State felonies and found guilty on a majority of them.  Following his conviction on these charges he was sentenced to a combined 250 years in prison, and is currently serving his sentence on the Federal charges at the Federal Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado.   He is the first former U.S. President to be convicted of a felony after leaving office.

Gives me smiles hoping the day comes soon when it says something similar to that.  Especially since it would drive the BTs up the wall.  

[47of74]

And the Wikipedia entry for Cuba City, Wisconsin would say this in about a year;

Quote

The city is nicknamed "The City of Presidents" because of the presidential banners displayed along the city's Main Street.  As part of a project that was started to celebrate the bicentennial project in 1976, forty-five shields with the President's silhouette and term in office line Main Street.   45 of 46 Presidents are featured.  In 2021 following his multiple felony convictions the shield for President Trump was removed and replaced with a sign stating  "Due to Mr. Trump's multiple violations of state and Federal law, his shield has been permanently removed."

 

Edited November 6, 2020 by 47of74

[smittykins]

There’s a video from The Daily Show on YouTube entitled “How To Spot a Trump Lie.”  I haven’t watch this yet, but I’m sure I could reduce the five-minute running time to about ten seconds.

“How To Spot A Trump Lie:

His lips are moving.

The End.”

[GreyhoundFan]

This is hilarious:

Sadly, it makes more sense than any speech he's given.

[GreyhoundFan]

I hadn't seen this before. It's funny.

 

[SassyPants]

Anyone read this ? The connections, hmmm

https://gregolear.substack.com/p/tinker-tailor-mobster-trump

 

[47of74]

Luke Skywalker FTW!

 

 

 

[GreyhoundFan]

Yeah, I can't imagine that kind of deal, considering all this other books were ghostwritten and the fact that most of his supporters can't read. Personally, I wouldn't even read a book that he supposedly offered, even if it were free from the library. I wouldn't want him to get the circulation numbers.

 

[AnywhereButHere]

Hell, it’s like hostage negotiation. If I had a spare $100,000,000, I’d give it and a year’s supply of cheeseburgers to bribe Fucknut out of the White House quietly. 
 

Any mega millionaires out there who want to take one for the team? If not - maybe a GoFundMe? $2 from each voter who voted for Biden would do it!

[AmazonGrace]

 

[47of74]

 

And also

Spoiler