Trump 67: Why Does He Never Suffer Any Significant Consequences?

[Giraffe]

14 hours ago, thoughtful said:

I wonder who wrote this. They forgot to use all caps and screech about enemies.

It's because it was written by someone who knows how to write a proper thank you. His team is probably desperately trying to keep him from tweeting anything himself.

[kpmom]

8 minutes ago, AnywhereButHere said:

It’s now being said that it was a piece of flying glass rather than an actual bullet that caught his ear, and I’m also seeing a whole lot of “it was staged” theories. Like why was he allowed by the secret service to poke his head up and do that fist in the air thing? There seemed to be no real rush to get him out of there, and presumably, there hadn’t been a report at that time that the shooter was neutralized. I wouldn’t put it past some factions to do such a stunt, and it royally sucks that a member of the audience had to pay for it. 

I agree. I’m not a fan of conspiracy theories, but everything about it seems odd. 
After weeks of stories about Joe Biden being feeble, we get the felon putting his fist up and appearing to say fight, fight, fight in the middle of an active shooter?  Who does that? Certainly not bone spurs boy.  Seems a little too contrived. 
And even worse, the secret service allows him to put his head up in all that?

[Giraffe]

This guy mentions why he popped his head back up - Trump already knew the shooter was dead. This guy's a staunch leftist but has what imo is a reasonable take on the events. (Video channel is: Jimmy Snow. Name of the video is Don't Be F*ing Stupid...)

Edited July 14 by Giraffe
Link may be useless

[livinginthelight]

I don't think it was staged.

My first thought was that maybe someone was having a Dietrich Bonhoeffer moment. Bonhoeffer, a German pastor, believed that killing is wrong but that nevertheless Hitler needed to be stopped. He and others were willing to commit what they saw as grave sin in order to make an assassination attempt on Hitler. The attempt failed, and Bonhoeffer wound up being executed.

I don't want to glorify violence. And I am not endorsing it. I see myself primarily as a pacifist. But I am asking myself where the line is. If Trump is elected, many deserving people on the margins of society will lose their safety nets, while others (e.g. the LGBTQ community) will be outright persecuted. IS there a place for violence to stop this? I am so confused right now.

And I am aware that those on the far right probably are asking similar questions, thinking another Democratic president will be the end of society. Do I want violence or civil war? No.

I don't have a point, other than I'm very confused.

 

 

[Shrubbery]

I think it’s too early to get into conspiracy theories when we don’t really know many facts yet. And as much as I’d like to point the finger at the orange one, you can’t really predict how someone is going to react in an extreme situation, so I’m not going to see his behaviour as evidence for anything at the moment.

And really, what it all boils down to is that political language and politics in general have become so laden with violence (and yes, the Republicans much more so than the Democrats) that this incident - whether assassination attack or political stunt - has shocked, but not really surprised people. I feel that something like this has been a long time coming, with people on both sides (but Republicans much more) eroding the conventions of acceptable behaviour and speech in politics.

[noseybutt]

Transcripts from the podium indicate the shooter was “down” prior to the agents moving Trump. Which is why they went back and forth over shoes. And he had time to fist pump.

I don’t think it was staged because Trump is too vain to take a direct hit willingly. Also he is a drama queen and often drama queens react to stress with…more drama. 

The mystery I would like solved is how or why he lost his shoes. Removing shoes behind a podium is not exactly the norm.

On a serious note, this makes me angry and sad for the country. 

[Ozlsn]

5 hours ago, WatchingTheTireFireBurn said:

unless it wasn't supposed to clip him...

Shannen Doherty died. I feeling that extra today for some reason. I hope she tops the news instead of dumbfuck. I was pleasantly surprised that the algorithm decided to not show me a bunch of OMG ASSASINATION news.

I'm hoping that's cuz it didn't garner clicks elsewhere

I hadn't heard that, and am also feeling it. Partly because she was one of the actors I grew up with, nearly the same age as me, a bit because she had an absolute knack for screwing up when she was in a safe role, a bit because while I disagreed entirely with her politics I still wish she'd had access to better healthcare and an earlier diagnosis. BrCa is a crappy way to die. Unfortunately the three news sites I had up all have multiple analyses of the Trump incident ("what do we know? Basically not much, but in lots of words") and barely mentioned anything else on page 1 (although Charles and Camilla are touring Australia in October, so... there's that).

[WatchingTheTireFireBurn]

1 minute ago, Ozlsn said:

I hadn't heard that, and am also feeling it. Partly because she was one of the actors I grew up with, nearly the same age as me, a bit because she had an absolute knack for screwing up when she was in a safe role, a bit because while I disagreed entirely with her politics I still wish she'd had access to better healthcare and an earlier diagnosis. BrCa is a crappy way to die. Unfortunately the three news sites I had up all have multiple analyses of the Trump incident ("what do we know? Basically not much, but in lots of words") and barely mentioned anything else on page 1 (although Charles and Camilla are touring Australia in October, so... there's that).

oh that's a bummer. She was pretty high on my pages. I always liked her but remember all the hate she got for being "difficult"  - These days who knows what that really meant? I didn't  follow her closely later on but she sort of represents my teenage years. And it seemed like she was doing ok for awhile after getting into remission. It seems like she really loved acting and didn't seem like a total arrogant asshole. But maybe that was just my impression. I feel genuinely sad though. 

Back to asshat #1. I just ventured over to a forum I rarely visit any more and they didn't even start a new thread about trump (they had an existing multi-year thread about him in general). There were less than 10 posts about it. I was actually pretty surprised there wasn't more just general commentary. They also discussed how odd and conspiracy theory-ish it seems but otherwise didn't seem to think much about it.  Are we as a whole just sorta inured to trump nonsense that it doesn't hardly register? I kind of feel that way. My instagram today didn't have anything but a funny joke referencing biden that made me laugh out loud. Everybody else was back to regular posting. I'm sure the MAGA people will be all hyped and foaming at the mouth....but when are they not all hyped up about something? At some point I expect they'll get adrenal fatigue.

[Bethy]

7 hours ago, WatchingTheTireFireBurn said:

Shannen Doherty died. I feeling that extra today for some reason. I hope she tops the news instead of dumbfuck. I was pleasantly surprised that the algorithm decided to not show me a bunch of OMG ASSASINATION news.

Richard Simmons died yesterday too. I feel like celebrity deaths and events like this seem to come in clusters and some of those people get forgotten just because someone more famous died or some big thing happened. 

[noseybutt]

1 hour ago, WatchingTheTireFireBurn said:

oh that's a bummer. She was pretty high on my pages. I always liked her but remember all the hate she got for being "difficult"  - These days who knows what that really meant? I didn't  follow her closely later on but she sort of represents my teenage years. And it seemed like she was doing ok for awhile after getting into remission. It seems like she really loved acting and didn't seem like a total arrogant asshole. But maybe that was just my impression. I feel genuinely sad though. 

Back to asshat #1. I just ventured over to a forum I rarely visit any more and they didn't even start a new thread about trump (they had an existing multi-year thread about him in general). There were less than 10 posts about it. I was actually pretty surprised there wasn't more just general commentary. They also discussed how odd and conspiracy theory-ish it seems but otherwise didn't seem to think much about it.  Are we as a whole just sorta inured to trump nonsense that it doesn't hardly register? I kind of feel that way. My instagram today didn't have anything but a funny joke referencing biden that made me laugh out loud. Everybody else was back to regular posting. I'm sure the MAGA people will be all hyped and foaming at the mouth....but when are they not all hyped up about something? At some point I expect they'll get adrenal fatigue.

Accurate.

The handful of people I know who left MAGA and/or QAnon world did so because they were tired.

I am not a big celebrity person but dang, Shannen Doherty was young. 

[Howl]

2 hours ago, WatchingTheTireFireBurn said:

Back to asshat #1. I just ventured over to a forum I rarely visit any more and they didn't even start a new thread about trump (they had an existing multi-year thread about him in general). There were less than 10 posts about it. I was actually pretty surprised there wasn't more just general commentary. 

About 20 minutes elapsed before Twitterati started posting photos of Melania with the camption "F**k!", the implication being, of course, that Melania is pissed that the assassin failed. Pretty funny.  Also lots of Tweets of  Melania wearing the infamous "I don't care. Do you?" jacket. 

Biden was his usual decent self, and called Trump to offer words of concern.  Biden campaign took down all ads and stopped social media. 

The guy who was killed was a firefighter chief, and (based on his social media) a MAGA wing nut.  His family is destroyed.  

The shooter's family will also be entering a time of grief and will be hounded relentlessly by the media for every little scrap of information. 

Edited July 15 by Howl

[Audrey2]

2 hours ago, Bethy said:

Richard Simmons died yesterday too. I feel like celebrity deaths and events like this seem to come in clusters and some of those people get forgotten just because someone more famous died or some big thing happened. 

Dr. Ruth died, I believe it was Friday as well.

[WatchingTheTireFireBurn]

I feel very bad for the shooter's family. They possibly knew he was unhinged to some level and just couldn't do anything about it. Mental health is very stigmatized and even if you want help it's very expensive and often not enough providers even if you can afford it.

And yeah likely every part of their lives will be analyzed with a judgmental hint (or more) of "Why didn't you report XYZ behavior? Surely you knew!" etc.

I feel bad for anybody who gets shot: injured or killed at a public event (or anywhere really). We SHOULD have a society where it's safe to go outside........That's as far as I can stretch it to these maga people.  It's hard to have more empathy than that since most the people at the maga rallies support violence (gun "rights" and armed insurrection).

I'm not glad there was a shooting. not at all. BUT at least for once the people promoting that BS get a taste of what that truly means instead of going around promoting sandy hook didn't happen or "if I had been there I would have X" or whatever fucked up excuse they have. They've had a lot of opportunities to not feel it for themselves and let other people bear the consequences.

You were there. There was a shooter. Somebody died....that REALLY actually happened. Are you still 100% sure about your desire for an armed coup? unfettered gun rights?

[Jana814]

10 hours ago, Bethy said:

Richard Simmons died yesterday too. I feel like celebrity deaths and events like this seem to come in clusters and some of those people get forgotten just because someone more famous died or some big thing happened. 

They usually do. Dr. Ruth, Shannon Doherty, Shelly Duval &  James B Skippie all have died  in last few days.  

Edited July 15 by Jana814

[yeahthatsme74]

https://apnews.com/article/trump-classified-documents-smith-c66d5ffb7ba86c1b991f95e89bdeba0c

 

I just can't. 🤬

[CTRLZero]

Looks like corrupt favoritism to me.  I haven’t read the ruling yet.  Snippet from Washington Post:

The federal judge overseeing the classified documents charges against former president Donald Trump has dismissed the indictment on the grounds that special counsel Jack Smith was improperly appointed, according to a court filing Monday.

[Loveday]

22 minutes ago, yeahthatsme74 said:

https://apnews.com/article/trump-classified-documents-smith-c66d5ffb7ba86c1b991f95e89bdeba0c

 

I just can't. 🤬

Me, either. I'm so infuriated I want to hit something. I think this is just the beginning and we're going to see every. single. one. of the cases pending against Trump be dismissed or just allowed to fade away to nothing. And the 34 count case? He'll never be sentenced, is my prediction.

Damndamndamndamn...

[libgirl2]

9 hours ago, WatchingTheTireFireBurn said:

I feel bad for anybody who gets shot: injured or killed at a public event (or anywhere really). We SHOULD have a society where it's safe to go outside........That's as far as I can stretch it to these maga people.  It's hard to have more empathy than that since most the people at the maga rallies support violence (gun "rights" and armed insurrection).

I'm not glad there was a shooting. not at all. BUT at least for once the people promoting that BS get a taste of what that truly means instead of going around promoting sandy hook didn't happen or "if I had been there I would have X" or whatever fucked up excuse they have. They've had a lot of opportunities to not feel it for themselves and let other people bear the consequences.

 

This right here. When I heard the guy was a maga nut, I thought about Sandy Hook, Uvalde, so now you know what it is like. Is that wrong of me? Was he a hero for shielding his family? I would say that is the action of someone who loves their family. I would expect nothing less. But, I don't consider him a hero. 

And the comments on SM are just awful. Nothing has changed, nothing will change and we are never going back to the way we were. 

I commend President Biden for his statements and his behavior after this happened. I would hope the same from the orange guy, but I doubt it. 

Edited July 15 by libgirl2

[Alisamer]

On 7/13/2024 at 9:12 PM, WatchingTheTireFireBurn said:

The only thing I can see as a distinct benefit is this may bring out more maga voters with respect to turn out...*may* -because I think the die hards probably would have already been motivated to turn out.

A surprisingly large number of the Jan 6 participants didn't actually vote in the election they claim was "stolen" from Trump. I think there are a decent number of Trump fanatics who enjoy the rallies and merch but can't be bothered to take an hour or two and go vote. I could see SOME of those now being motivated to turn out. 

On 7/14/2024 at 12:58 AM, fraurosena said:

Personally I don’t think that Trump getting shot was staged— he’s too much of a coward to knowingly endanger himself— but you can bet it will have the press falling over themselves condemning it, and somehow blaming Biden’s/ the Democrats’ rhetoric.

I kind of agree. Only because another person was killed, however. If only Trump had come out with a minor injury I'd be suspicious, and wonder if he'd recently had a chat session with Mr. McMahon from the WWE.

On 7/14/2024 at 6:04 AM, fraurosena said:

Yep, the Founders got it wrong. They weren't demigods, but mere mortal and fallible men. I know, I know, it's almost blasphemy for a lot of Americans to point that out, but as an atheist, and a foreigner to boot, I have no qualms stating the obvious. 

This is true. I think the Founders did a decent job, but they were living in their own time and couldn't possibly predict how life and the world would change. In their time, most white adult men were literate (I've seen stats from 80% up to "nearly all" - and the wealthier the person the more educated they were) and most people of color were not (nor were many poor women, and the wealthy ones largely were literate and educated only because they needed to be to run their husband's household - or to keep them occupied as children where poor children would have been working). In their time, it was important to make sure the cities didn't overrule the needs of the rural population who were at the time the lifeblood of the country, and they'd come from a system basically since time began where landowners were the ones in charge more than anyone else. They had literally JUST taken up arms to fight for their independence, and "arms" at that time meant muskets. There were still areas of the country that were "frontier" and in danger of attack by criminals and enemies and wild animals. People admired education, people deplored criminality, and had strict societal rules about what was correct and proper - and violating those rules was shameful.

They simply couldn't imagine a time when anyone can be anywhere in the world in less than a day, where information (and misinformation) can be shared by literally any person on the planet to everyone else on the planet - instantly. And where the basic decorum and societal rules they lived by simply didn't exist anymore. Where education wasn't admired and valued, and where people would happily vote for a known criminal and conman. In their time information was shared in print mostly, and therefore someone educated and literate had to take the time to do the writing and it was checked by an editor before publishing it. Now anyone can share anything, true or not, straight from brain to keyboard to world in seconds. The system set up for the late 1700s simply can't function the same in the 2020s, and it's amazing it worked as long as it did IMO.

17 hours ago, noseybutt said:

The mystery I would like solved is how or why he lost his shoes. Removing shoes behind a podium is not exactly the norm.

Yeah especially for Trump who is vain about his height. Seems like taking off his shoes would not be his preference.

I think this shooter, a young Republican conservative apparently, likely had his own motives and grievances and was not "sent" by anyone. He probably didn't have any sensed of what the real consequences of his actions might be. I think this is probably a disturbed person doing something terrible.

Which Trump will do his best to profit off of, probably. Trading cards with bits of his suit or shirt, anyone? And by the election, despite the world having seen what actually happened, Trump will be spinning himself as Rambo who singlehandedly survived a severe gunshot wound while saving the lives of all those on stage.

If the shooter was "sent" by anyone with any power, he wouldn't have been in an exposed position, wouldn't have taken collateral victims, and wouldn't have missed. Why would Biden need to send a random 20-year-old when the Supremes effectively declared immunity for presidents committing official acts, and the armed Secret Service is right there all the time? He could just send the order down to one of them!

[WatchingTheTireFireBurn]

I don't really understand the special counsel being constitutional or not. Hopefully it will get explained by pundits over today.  I'm just sick that this guy has been bragging about top secret stuff here there and everywhere and nobody in republican land are worried about this.

It's so bizarre how he really doesn't seem to ever get consequences. 

The GA thing just seems to have stopped. I don't think he will ever be sentenced in the "hush money" one because of the immunity thing. At the least they'll just argue the immunity part for the next 5-10 years piece by piece. And apparently people are willing to financially support them. 

[Audrey2]

1 hour ago, libgirl2 said:

I commend President Biden for his statements and his behavior after this happened. I would hope the same from the orange guy, but I doubt it. 

If it would have been President Biden who had been grazed instead of the convicted felon, Trump's talking points would have gone like this. "What a sucker and loser sleepy Joe Biden is for getting shot. I like presidents who don't get shot." Really, there's no situation that I have hopes that the convicted felons talking points will be appropriate.

43 minutes ago, Alisamer said:

And by the election, despite the world having seen what actually happened, Trump will be spinning himself as Rambo who singlehandedly survived a severe gunshot wound while saving the lives of all those on stage.

Teddy Roosevelt "Hold my beer." In 1912, while competing for the Bull moose party which was basically formed around those who wanted Teddy Roosevelt to become president again after it was felt that Taft didn't fulfill Roosevelt's vision (Roosevelt became President when he served as William McKinley's vice president and McKinley was assassinated. Roosevelt agreed to run and be elected for one term but by then he had served almost 8 years, and he thought that he would leave the nation in the hands of William Howard Taft. This was before there were term limits for the presidency.). Teddy Roosevelt spoke for 50 minutes with a bullet lodged in his chest that I had gone through his pocket containing his thick speech and his eyeglasses. 

Edited July 15 by Audrey2

[libgirl2]

4 minutes ago, Audrey2 said:

If it would have been President Biden who had been grazed instead of the convicted felon, Trump's talking points would have gone like this. "What a sucker and loser sleepy Joe Biden is for getting shot. I like presidents who don't get shot." Really, there's no situation that I have hopes that the convicted felons talking points will be appropriate.

Teddy Roosevelt "Hold my beer." In 1912, while competing for the Bull moose party which was basically formed around those who wanted Teddy Roosevelt to become president again after it was felt that Taft didn't fulfill Roosevelt's vision (Roosevelt became President when he served as William McKinley's vice president and McKinley was assassinated. Roosevelt agreed to run and be elected for one term but by then he had served almost 8 years, and he thought that he would leave the nation in the hands of William Howard Taft. This was before there were term limits for the presidency.). Teddy Roosevelt spoke for 50 minutes with a bullet lodged in his chest that I had gone through his pocket containing his thick speech and his eyeglasses. 

Oh for sure. They are still mocking Paul Pelosi. They don't learn, they don't care. 

I always liked that story about TR. That is not only a "hold my beer" but a "hold the whole keg" moment. 

[Audrey2]

1 minute ago, libgirl2 said:

Oh for sure. They are still mocking Paul Pelosi. They don't learn, they don't care. 

I always liked that story about TR. That is not only a "hold my beer" but a "hold the whole keg" moment. 

When playing the old game, "Who would you like to have over for a dinner party?" I always start with Teddy Roosevelt and usually add John Muir, Gifford Pinchot, and George Bird Grinnel, The man behind Glacier National Park. And I know there were tensions between the three naturalists. If I only get to pick one I always pick Teddy Roosevelt.

[libgirl2]

24 minutes ago, Audrey2 said:

When playing the old game, "Who would you like to have over for a dinner party?" I always start with Teddy Roosevelt and usually add John Muir, Gifford Pinchot, and George Bird Grinnel, The man behind Glacier National Park. And I know there were tensions between the three naturalists. If I only get to pick one I always pick Teddy Roosevelt.

He is my favorite president. He wasn't perfect but I like him. I used to watch Family Affair and I adored Brian Keith. He played Roosevelt in The Wind and the Lion. It kind of went from there. 

Edited July 15 by libgirl2

[noseybutt]

3 hours ago, Alisamer said:

 

Yeah especially for Trump who is vain about his height. Seems like taking off his shoes would not be his preference.

Probably standing is not comfortable for him either because of painful feet or some sort of mild neuropathy. Maybe he finally has bone spurs for realz.

RE the vacating the documents case. Horrific. He keeps benefiting from power and privilege and it’s disturbing to watch.