**Update** The Change in the Media's Tone

Why Are Democrats Praying for the Speedy Recovery of a “Fascist Dictator”?

Glenn Greenwald put up an interesting piece about the bizarre media narrative where he nails what bothered me so much about it, I've decided to include some excerpts from his article:

THE TYPICAL REACTION to the death of a tyrant — whether by revolutionary violence or natural causes — is not one of grief and sadness but joyous celebration. It is not hard to understand why: when a nation and its oppressed citizenry are finally liberated from the suffocating, savage grip of fascist dictatorship, they feel joy for themselves, their families and the future of their nation. That is the same reason people have always hoped for, or work toward, the death of despots: they want to rid themselves of those who impose tyranny on them....

Yet in the U.S., a radically different dynamic is playing out. Over the past several years, but particularly in the months heading into the 2020 election, it has become extremely common for prominent Democrats and their media allies to refer to President Trump as a dictator, a fascist, a tyrant hellbent on destroying U.S. democracy, a genocidal racist, and even a Nazi. And yet, the overwhelming reaction in those mainstream precincts to the news that the fascist dictator has contracted a potentially lethal virus is to hope and pray that he makes a speedy recovery whereby he can resume his democracy-destroying, genocidal, tyrannical, fascist rule.

MSNBC star Rachel Maddow began invoking Nazism and Hitler in connection with Trump as early as 2016, when Politico reported that, once Trump secured the GOP nomination, the on-air personality “has been reading up lately on Adolf Hitler’s rise to power in Germany, the MSNBC anchor told Rolling Stone, because that’s where she thinks the United States could be headed.”

Yet upon learning that the fascist, Kremlin-controlled, Nazi-like dictator had become ill, Maddow launched a one-woman crusade demanding that her fellow liberals pray earnestly for his recovery. She first posted an extremely effusive tweet: “God bless the president and the first lady. If you pray, please pray for their speedy and complete recovery…”

These sentiments were not unique to Maddow. Indeed, that all decent people should hope and pray for Trump’s speedy recovery was the virtually unanimous consensus of leading Democratic Party figures, expressed by Barack Obama, Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders.

How is this messaging — we hope the racist fascist genocidal Nazi-like dictator gets well soon and returns to work? — not creating extreme cognitive dissonance among those who believed that they actually were sincere in their maximalist denunciations and invocations of fascism and Nazism regarding Trump? Shouldn’t liberals not just be confused but overtly disgusted at their leaders who want Trump to survive and return in full health to imposing fascism and genocide on Americans?

If one really does believe that Trump is a “genocidal Nazi” — a Hitler-equivalent fascist dictator engaged in the deliberate mass slaughter of a particular ethnic or religious group (genocide) — then it would be not just irrational but madness and moral bankruptcy to hope that the Nazi genocidal fascist makes a speedy recovery and returns to work. But that’s exactly what virtually every prominent Democratic Party leader is doing. Is Califano regretful about having worked for the presidential campaign of someone who sends warm wishes to a genocidal Nazi?

Ultimately, Greenwald argues, there are a few explanations for this extreme cognitive dissonance. Either Dem leaders are simply demonstrating their hypocritical nature by wishing Trump well in public for political reasons while secretly hoping he suffers and dies. Or the Dem leadership had an authentic spiritual awakening and truly believe all people deserve compassion during times of crisis. OR -- Dem leaders never believed what they said about Trump for the last four years, and still see him as one of them, where they plan to "rehabilitate" and "publicly honor" him once they beat him.

*************************

For the last 4 years the media has been on DEFCON ONE warning us about the imminent threat the “Russian Nazi in the White House” poses to our country and our lives. Now, within hours of reporting that President Trump has contracted COVID, their tone does an about face with the likes of Rachel Maddow sitting before the camera sending this "Russian Nazi in the White House" prayers for a speedy recovery.

Really?

It's a pivot in tone that personally gave me whiplash and had my eyes all agog. Prayers and get well wishes from people who have been shrieking ad nauseam about the danger this President poses since 2016? The same people who have been recklessly creating a narrative that has polarized a nation for years NOW wants us to hold a prayer vigil for the person they've called the greatest threat to our country? What the hell happened to change their frenzied warnings of our demise at the hands of this treasonous traitor to this soft cuddly moment?

Maybe Caitlin's on to something here...

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Comments

Necessarily. It is an alternative view.

Michael Moore has said that he wants Trump to live so that he will be defeated. Moore will find that more satisfying than Trump's death.

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NYCVG

@NYCVG “I want him to live so he can be marched out of the White House in handcuffs by VP Kamala Harris”. Barf.

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Idolizing a politician is like believing the stripper really likes you.

@Dr. John Carpenter

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Anja Geitz's picture

@NYCVG

But I'm actually speaking more to the disconnect between point A to point B in the narrative. I mean, I didn't hear Rachel Maddow send out and thoughts and prayers when Bernie Sanders criss-crossed the country talking about Medicare for all and had a heart attack.

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34 users have voted.

There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

@Anja Geitz Bernie gets treated as the threat to their incomes he poses to the Ruling Classes, the PMC and the elite stenographers who work for them.

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NYCVG

WoodsDweller's picture

that with El Trumpo falling ill the Democrats are now in danger of winning. Biden has unilaterally pulled negative ads (the Trump campaign continues to run theirs). Yet despite their best efforts they might actually win. They could even conceivably have a large enough majority in Congress that they wouldn't be able to blame Republicans for passing donor class Republican friendly legislation.

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30 users have voted.

"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." -- Albert Bartlett
"A species that is hurtling toward extinction has no business promoting slow incremental change." -- Caitlin Johnstone

Anja Geitz's picture

@WoodsDweller

If Trump was in fact contagious at the debate, Biden could easily be infected as well. A week from now, I'd be more prone to make predictions. Right now, who the hell knows.

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

@Anja Geitz

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

CS in AZ's picture

Just as has been happening even here on c99 lately, there is a societal-level expectation and high social pressure to conform to the norm of never saying anything bad about a person, no matter how bad they are, if they die. Apparently the same rule applies if a person gets ill with a potentially grave condition. Dying, or getting sick, is a 'get out of jail free' card that erases everything else about the person.

I've never agreed with that rule and I still don't.

But it's not surprising to see the media and high-profile people from all quarters suddenly change their tune. It's the only "moral" thing to do, or so I've been told.

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Anja Geitz's picture

@CS in AZ

went in for his heart transplant and any comment on HuffPost about how Dick Cheney got a donor heart so quickly while some people wait for years were deleted. Along of course with the inevitable "he hasn't got a heart" jokes. I think the comment I made ran along the lines of if I died and found out from the great beyond that that asshole was using my heart, I'd come back to earth so I could rip it right out of his chest and re-claim it. Moderators at HuffPost were not amused. My comment along with any other comments that didn't fall along the repetitive lines of "sending thoughts and prayers" were deleted leaving hundreds of banal well wishes for that grotesque creature masquerading as a human being.

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

The Liberal Moonbat's picture

@CS in AZ They were treating him like dirt right up until the last minute, then as soon as he died ALL the lurid speculation about his being a pervert, all the snide remarks about his color/gender/career status/age issues, the way religious people had previously been eager to start gossiping about his alleged crimes so they could stop talking about the Catholic Church's proven crimes, ALL of it went out the window and it was all about his talent and his loving vision for the world...

...how fucking shallow must they all be, to let a little thing like that so utterly change their tune?

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In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.

Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!

@CS in AZ I intend to play Green Day's "Ha Ha You're Dead" at high volume. The Brits would do it. (They sang "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead" when Maggie Thatcher shuffled off this mortal coil. I'm with Mike Malloy on this one. All the suffering that Orange Ape has caused? The Democrats can save their "thoughts and prayers" for the children still locked up in his concentration camps.

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TheOtherMaven's picture

As long as the Opposition is active and healthy, he/she/they can be hit with all the negative ads that can be bought and paid for. But as soon as something bad happens to him/her/them, everyone is supposed to drop the attacks and join in a chorus of "Oh no, how awful!"

It's Just Politics.

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There is no justice. There can be no peace.

Unabashed Liberal's picture

@TheOtherMaven

bothered to read any of Tribe's other Tweets.

Also, consider that Tribe had a near meltdown about a week ago on national teevee, when discussing the upcoming election--end of democracy, etc. (because of OM--Orange Man)

His Tweet is just a perfect example of 'CYA.' Remember, HHJ (Hidey Hole Joe) is the polite and 'empathetic' candidate. And, one for whom Tribe is appearing in a surrogate role, or, would-be surrogate role.

IMO, as TOM said, "it's politics." Or, another way of putting it--keeping up "the appearance of civility." Smile

It meant nothing.

Have a good one, All.

Mollie

"The leaders of this new movement are replacing traditional liberal beliefs about tolerance, free inquiry, and even racial harmony with ideas so toxic and unattractive that they eschew debate, moving straight to shaming, threats, and intimidation."
~~Matt Taibbi, The American Press Is Destroying Itself, June 12, 2020

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Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

Anja Geitz's picture

@Unabashed Liberal

along with the Dems using this moment to show us they are the "compassionate party". But there's also another angle I'm seeing in that by pushing this ludicrous narrative on us they are essentially saying that regardless of the disconnect, we are pliable tools that must be bent into this pretzelled logic they are feeding us. I mean come on? Either he's the worst threat our country has ever seen, or he's merely a misguided human being deserving of this heartfelt kumbaya singalong MSM wants us all to join in over him. In either case there's a disconnect between the two that is so vast and it beggars belief making their efforts seem all the more forced to me.

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

Unabashed Liberal's picture

@Anja Geitz

Either he's the worst threat our country has ever seen, or he's merely a misguided human being deserving of this heartfelt kumbaya singalong MSM wants us all to join in over him. In either case there's a disconnect between the two that is so vast and it beggars belief making their efforts seem all the more forced to me.

Heh, I Demexited in 2004 because of the way the Dem Leadership--with the help of the corporatist MSM--destroyed Howard Dean's candidacy after taking "the scream" completely out of context.

(I was a major Deaniac--even wrote handwritten letters on his behalf!)

So, I suppose 'everything' the Dem Party Leadership does is somewhat suspect to me. Since their attempt to pull off the Russia Ruse--still ongoing!--I've all the more written them off. IMO, they're totally corrupt, fraudulent, and unserious. (heh, guess you could color me 'jaded' now Smile )

Yesterday, I saw that you've had another furbaby loss--so, of course, I want to extend my deepest condolences.

Like you, we've lost two furbabies in a very short period of time--a 14-1/2 and a 13 year old dog--both from cancer--in just 7 weeks, back in the 90's. It was one of the most difficult periods (emotionally) that I can remember. (our vet's voice broke when he called me to let us know about the second dog's biopsy results--came just two days after the first, and older dog passed away)

Anyhoo, I'm hoping that you'll be able to find peace, and, begin to experience at least some degree of healing very soon, Anja. You take real good care of yourself.

Mollie

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Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

Anja Geitz's picture

@Unabashed Liberal

It’s been a very difficult few weeks. What with the Bobcat fire, the evacuation warnings, my Sisters strange behavior, and Zoe’s death, I’ve kinda been feeling like the stress is catching up to me a little.

Friends have been wonderful though. I’ve been invited to all sorts of things the last two weeks. BBQ’s in backyards, cocktails and dinner at rooftop restaurants, and NYC style pizza with some of my Trader Joe’s friends at a local pizzeria. It helps to take time away from the grieving but the unbearable emptiness of the house when I get home still reduces me to tears. Poor Lil Ziggy. He lost two of his buddies in less than six months and doesn’t know what the hell is going on.

So sweet of you Mollie. I know you understand how heartbreaking it is to watch your beloved animal get sick and die.

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

Unabashed Liberal's picture

@Anja Geitz

it means everything.

(RL=Real Life)

(when we lost both of them, we had just relocated to another state, and were basically among strangers--that made it even more difficult)

Now that you mention it, I remember that it did have quite an effect on the surviving furbaby--an observation we made, regarding the Pup we had at the time. 'Chena' went on to become the dog we called "our dog of a lifetime." And, lived 17-1/2 years. Not sure what we would have done, without her.

As I'm sure little Ziggy's love and companionship will help sustain you. Give rose

Mollie

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Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

Anja Geitz's picture

@Unabashed Liberal

Chena lived a long and happy life. Ziggy has been a great comfort. I told him the other day that I would go buy him some toys and we’d play a little bit more than we have. It’s been very sad here for awhile now and I think he’d welcome the change of pace. Who knows, maybe I would too.

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

magiamma's picture

Many people have died unnecessarily due to the mishandling of the pandemic. I do not wish ill on him but I also do not feel bad for him. The fact that the meme is “pray for him” says to me that they were not planning on this. I think they are now making this up as they go. But really who knows. (It is what it is.)

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Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation

Hot Air Website, Twitter, Facebook

Anja Geitz's picture

@magiamma

I had an image in my head as I watched her where she became Jim Carrey's character and actually said what she really thought. Now that would've been must see TV.

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

Creosote.'s picture

@magiamma
Is it like wishing for rain? Making a shopping list?

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magiamma's picture

@Creosote.
? or fuckifiknow. Again, my thought is that it is a way to calm folks down and prepare them for the worst? It's a meme. Why would they say that? Just a guess.

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Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation

Hot Air Website, Twitter, Facebook

@Creosote. "In the shadows of the churches, who knows what they pray?"

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because their whole strategy is based on going against him personally. As long as they can point to what an incompetent nutjob Trump is(and he is) they don't have to say anything about what they'd do in his place. "You'd prefer THAT?" is all they have to say for anyone however shoddy(and they are shoddy) to be seen as an improvement.
If they have to go against someone like Pence, who is just as evil but actually competent, they'd have to actually show how they were better, and given the similarities they already share with him, they don't want to do it for fear of being found wanting.

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24 users have voted.

They say that there's a broken light for every heart on Broadway
They say that life's a game and then they take the board away
They give you masks and costumes and an outline of the story
And leave you all to improvise their vicious cabaret-- A. Moore

@Johnny Q His demeanor is just less obnoxious. And so far, he's only managed not get infected with SARS Cov-19 even as leader of the task force he's been a miserable failure.

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@Marie @Marie would make him more competent at passing what they want to pass without near as much public outrage. The "opposition" party would find it much easier to reach across the aisle to the bland Pence because he'd not be flouting "the norms" as with DJT.

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@MichaelSF how would that differ from the past three plus years? Less noise (less 24/7 media imposed noise and OMGs) would reduce the generalized and non-constructive stress that we've been subjected to. It will be a relief just how one feels when she/he stops pounding his/her head against a wall. But that will be a short pause until it ramps up again as it has been doing since 1994 and by the time a majority of Americans finally wake up to being continuously screwed, we'll be too poor to do anything other than scramble for a few morsels for our next meal.

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Unabashed Liberal's picture

@MichaelSF

like the corporatist Dems/Dem Leadership. Unfortunately, he'll get along great with "Pay-Go" Pelosi and Schumer. (IMO)

I would bet the family farm that, if Pence ascends to the Presidency (for whatever reason), within months, Dems will strike a Grand Bargain (GB)--slashing entitlements, both Social Security and Medicare.

Also, I'd expect Biden to 'reach out' and strike a GB as soon as possible, if he's elected. He is a longtime fiscal hawk. He even brought up 'the deficit' in his remarks, yesterday. Obviously, he didn't get specific regarding 'how' he'd take care of it, but, since he and 'O' spent 6 of their 8 years trying to strike a GB, who doubts that they'll not attempt to do it with the current huge deficit.

For that matter, considering remarks by several Dem and Repub Senators, within the past two years, and, OM's (Orange Man's) remarks at Davos--pretty much expect that, regardless of the election outcome, so-called "entitlements" will be on the chopping block in the next Congress. Probably, all the more true, if another spending/stimulus package is passed.

Mr M and I just hope that there won't be a travel ban for much longer. IOW, we're anxious to get into another country's medical system, before our Medicare system--that is, Traditional/Original/FFS--is completely destroyed. Phew!

Have a nice weekend. Pleasantry

Mollie

"The leaders of this new movement are replacing traditional liberal beliefs about tolerance, free inquiry, and even racial harmony with ideas so toxic and unattractive that they eschew debate, moving straight to shaming, threats, and intimidation."
~~Matt Taibbi, The American Press Is Destroying Itself, June 12, 2020

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10 users have voted.

Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

@Marie @Marie I can tell you from the time he was governor here, Pence can be very effective at the things he actually wants to accomplish. And the things he actually wants fo accomplish are pretty terrible. By conventional metrics, he was a pretty indifferent governor, but he made it so businesses could discriminate against LGBTQ couples, for example.

Edit: I’d argue Pence is more evil than Trump by a good distance. Trump has no real philosophy beyond his own narcissism. Pence actually thinks he was chosen by god to establish a Christian taliban.

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20 users have voted.

Idolizing a politician is like believing the stripper really likes you.

@Dr. John Carpenter but I don't think the proportion of Americans that would be happier living under the Pence XtrianLand is any more than the proportion happy with Trumplandia, and there's a lot of overlap between the two Venn circles. Trump has unleashed the ID of the less educated, less intelligent, and more violent. The Xtrians have been unleashed for decades, but there a lot less financially well off than they once were.

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mhagle's picture

Caitlin got it right.

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Marilyn

"Make dirt, not war." eyo

Anja Geitz's picture

@mhagle

and you ain't in it.

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

CS in AZ's picture

that say they hope or wish for Trump to die.

Verbalizing hopes and wishes that are deemed unsavory has been banned from social media public discourse.

Facebook, Twitter And TikTok Say Wishing Trump's Death From COVID-19 Is Not Allowed

Facebook, Twitter and TikTok have a message to users: Wishing for the president to die is not allowed.

All three tech companies confirmed that such posts will be removed for violating each platform's content policies.

So, the moral scolds win the day, and socially disapproved thoughts are no longer even allowed to be said out loud. The approved view of morality is enforced by social censorship. Great.

I suppose some will find this to be good news. I find it ridiculous.

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@CS in AZ

Perhaps if people want to express their thoughts,
they may try other means? Personally do not care
what is subject to censor anymore. We are still free
to vent our beliefs, thoughts and opinions here.

Truth is not a marketable concern for the gate keepers.

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CS in AZ's picture

@QMS

I don't participate in any of those social media outlets, not do I have any interest in doing so. As you say, that is why I come here, rather than using mainstream social media sites. (That's partly why I was so... um... surprised to see the same kind of scolding and moralizing on here recently.)

But I thought it relevant to the topic of this essay, about how the media has suddenly turned away from constant criticism of trump to this new tone of everyone getting all somber and wishing him well and so forth. I do not think it has anything to do with fear, either of trump or of anyone else. Caitlin simply missed the mark here, IMO.

It's that social conditioning that we all HAVE TO say nice things (and ONLY nice things) when someone dies or gets ill. And I have to add, it is not just politics. This social rule is imposed for anyone and everyone, from a hated celebrity to an abusive husband to a child-molesting pastor of the local church, or whatever. "Shhhhh! Don't speak badly about him now, he's sick you know!" "Hold your tongue child! He's dead now, don't bring up how bad he behaved in life!"

This whitewashing of a person's life due to their death or a serious illness really grates on my nerves. That is such a strong pressure that mass social media literally bans any 'bad thoughts' from being expressed is just par for the course, but very irritating to me for what it represents. Not that is has any effect on my own life at all. It doesn't.

And I am grateful to JtC and the overall community here, that this site still allows for freedom of expression that is not allowed in many other venues.

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Granma's picture

@CS in AZ up I resent that when someone dies, they sometimes become a saint to family members.

But I find I cannot wish death on anyone, no matter how much I dislike them. For me, it is a question of, I guess karma is the word. On the other hand, if anyone deserved to get Covid, Trump did. But at least in my mind, thinking that and hoping he dies from it, are not the same thing.

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Anja Geitz's picture

@Granma

While I wouldn't actually wish for anything like that to happen to these politicians, I gotta say, I've got the popcorn out and am enjoying watching these assholes spin in the wind trying to figure this all out.

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

CS in AZ's picture

@Anja Geitz

I appreciate your thoughts and want to be clear that I strongly believe it is entirely up to each individual to decide what they feel is comfortable for them. My point is not to tell other people what they are and are not allowed to think or say about it.

For me, since I do not believe that wishes or hopes make even the slightest bit of difference in what happens, I just don't think it matters and don't get why so many people get so exercised about it.

Whether someone prays that he recovers fully, or wishes he would die, neither will change what happens. I am somewhat taken aback at how many people seem to honestly believe that wishes hold real power. Since I don't think they do, it matters not at all to me what anyone wishes about Trump.

I was just chatting with a friend about this. He declined to say whether he would wish Trump dead, but as he put it: "There would be no down side if he does."

I cannot disagree with him on that.

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Anja Geitz's picture

@CS in AZ

"What goes around comes around" is a saying I've heard quite often. But even before I had a spiritual bent towards "right" speech, "right" action, "right" thoughts as a Zen master once taught, I've fundamentally adhered to that sentiment in spirit, if not always in practice.

Do, I believe wishes have the power to kill someone? Nope, can't say that I do. But I do believe my environment mirrors what goes on in my mind and my heart. So in that sense, I do believe wishing that something "bad" would happen to someone else will effect my state of mind, and in turn, my environment. Still, what that actually looks like is different for everyone, so I can't speak to the experiences others have with that.

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

Granma's picture

@Anja Geitz it is adorable.

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Anja Geitz's picture

@Granma

It’s one of my favorite too!

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

@QMS
Have to go non-corporate sites like this.

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7 users have voted.

I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

hopeful1's picture

@CS in AZ Here's a link to a professor saying he's not having any of this "thoughts and prayers nonsense."

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2020/10/02/whatever-removes-donald-tr...

I agree with those who say this pivot is all for show. I don't believe most people, even the Tribes and Maddows would be sorry to see him go. I am happy to say on this site that I wish him to greatly suffer or die from Covid. Trump has forfeited his humanity through his destructive actions. Unitarians teach about the inherent worth and dignity of every human being, but I cannot apply this to Donald. Trump has no worth and no dignity. For the destruction wreaked by leaving the Paris accord alone his life should be forfeit, and his willful destruction of democratic institutions, and disinformation about Corona makes him a traitor. You can shoot traitors. I fully expect him to recover given the world's best care.
However if Corona kills him it would be entirely fitting.

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Do not let the plutocrats divide us!

Situational Lefty's picture

@hopeful1 about President Trump for a while now.

I've been thinking he should get corona virus and now that he has it I'm praying he dies and I'm not a praying kind of guy.

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"The enemy is anybody who is going to get you killed, no matter which side he's on." Yossarian

Pricknick's picture

Then they become icons of the politically correct.

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15 users have voted.

Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

Anja Geitz's picture

@Pricknick

borders on the obnoxious. Seriously, as nauseating as John McCains memorial service was, I think I’ll lose my mind when Bill Clinton dies and we hear from everyone who hated his guts what a “great” man he was. And PLEASE let’s not mention Hillary. I am convinced I will have to go temporarily deaf and blind to weather that event.

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

@Anja Geitz It seems to me the Democrats and their ilk are much more likely to go in for this hogwash than the Republicans. Witness the Saint John McCain embarrassment. While I’m sure the deplorables will be lining up to piss on HER grave (get in line, heh), I’ll be interested to hear what the word will be from the Republican politics machine and media.

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Idolizing a politician is like believing the stripper really likes you.

Creosote.'s picture

@Pricknick
You have to fit in to whatever it is that's popular

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WoodsDweller's picture

This was posted to El Trumpo's Twitter today (Saturday).

Don't bother listening, everything he's ever said is lies.

I can't help noticing, though, that he's wearing the same suit he was admitted in. No tie, that would be a dead giveaway, so they took it off. And he's sitting because he's too sick to stand (of course, he's an old man with a serious illness).
So I'm guessing that they recorded this as soon as he was admitted, or maybe before he left the White House. He's trying to convince us that he's shaken this off in 24 hours.
I'm not convinced.

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"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." -- Albert Bartlett
"A species that is hurtling toward extinction has no business promoting slow incremental change." -- Caitlin Johnstone

Anja Geitz's picture

@WoodsDweller

And here's what I don't get; what idiot told Trump that speaking off the cuff works for him? Oh, yeah. Trump did.

P.S. What’s even more nauseating is he actually thinks his schtick is “charming”.

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

earthling1's picture

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5 users have voted.

Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

I am not personally affected either way.
It is ironic the virus that doesn't affect anybody is currently affecting him.
We all die. Every living thing dies.
The world has lost many a savior. Christ, Mohamed, and The Lord Buddha.
We are still here.
Moral standards and civil societal acceptable behaviors are routinely set by the PTB.

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6 users have voted.

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

Shahryar's picture

gosh, I hope he gets better soon.

or any other villain you can think of.

Sympathizing with this mobster makes him more human and punctures the "existential threat". I can't believe the Dems could be this stupid. Or yes, I can.

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17 users have voted.
Anja Geitz's picture

@Shahryar

It’d be like sending out thoughts and prayers to Hannibal Lecter after the establishment brought the character to life in the public’s mind. Or as one wise friend said to me during a break up, “you can’t seek comfort for the emotional holocaust you’re going through from the person who caused it.”

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11 users have voted.

There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

jwa13's picture

"... They don't want people who are smart enough to sit around a kitchen table and think about how badly they're getting fucked by a system that threw them overboard 30 fuckin' years ago. They don't want that. You know what they want? They want obedient workers. Obedient workers, people who are just smart enough to run the machines and do the paperwork. And just dumb enough to passively accept all these increasingly shittier jobs with the lower pay, the longer hours, the reduced benefits, the end of overtime and vanishing pension that disappears the minute you go to collect it. And now they're coming for your Social Security money. They want your fuckin' retirement money. They want it back so they can give it to their criminal friends on Wall Street. And you know something? They'll get it. They'll get it all from you sooner or later 'cause they own this fuckin' place. It's a big club and you ain't in it. You and I are not in the big club ..."

Drumpf, Pence, McConnell, Sleepy Joe, Kamala, Her Heinous, the Bushites -- they're all in the Big Club, along with Rachel, Wolf, Dana, and all the rest of the "elite stenographers" who record their every vicious thought, and smooth it all out to make it more palatable for the "help" (who are NOT in the Club). This bunch all belong to the DC cocktail circuit; all see each other (some masked, these days) at fabulous, exclusive get-togethers, and in general go out of their way to avoid potential contamination from the hoi & the polloi (you & I, who are NOT in the Big Club).

Consequently, their natural inclination is to look out for each other's interests -- and ignore completely the broader, public interest. In fact, a "broad, public interest" doesn't even exist for these psychopathic Club members --

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22 users have voted.

When Cicero had finished speaking, the people said “How well he spoke”.
When Demosthenes had finished speaking, the people said “Let us march”.

Anja Geitz's picture

@jwa13

I never tire of hearing that Carlin quote.

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9 users have voted.

There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

is that this sudden prayers stuff is on all channels, all "journalists" given bullet talking points by the 6 or so people who run the joint.
Th perfect exemplar of Fake News.

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15 users have voted.

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

magiamma's picture

@on the cusp
that I had when I read that was -are they prepping people? What for?

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8 users have voted.

Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation

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Anyone who feels the US response to COVID-19 has been inadequate better hope to whatever you believe in that Trump is a sick with this as anyone has ever been. Because if he’s one of those people who tests positive but doesn’t suffer much, that’s going to be the end of even the meager steps the government has taken. Now I don’t think this is going to give him a change of heart and suddenly he’ll start pushing for doing the right thing. But he’s definitely been looking for a reason to say “mission accomplished” and if he can rebound quickly, I guarantee he will.

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10 users have voted.

Idolizing a politician is like believing the stripper really likes you.

Anja Geitz's picture

@Dr. John Carpenter

Maybe if he does get really sick with this, he will actually approach this in a more mindful way. Well, as mindful as his limited brain can be, that is.

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6 users have voted.

There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

So I don't know what's up with her prayers crap.

I don't have an opinion either way as to Trump's being sick. I don't wish it to go one way or another. What happens, happens. But I don't expect this experience to change him or his followers. They are all the kind of people who have a chunk of conscience missing. What I am sad to see is how many people I know who are so anti-Trump that they are dropping their chunks of conscience too. Why allow him and his followers to rile you up so much that you lose your sense of humanity?

If we lose Trump, I would rather we lose him in the election process, or in a criminal trial, not in something that has the potential to make him some kind of martyr.

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11 users have voted.

"Without the right to offend, freedom of speech does not exist." Taslima Nasrin

enhydra lutris's picture

Stalin in disguise, inside the Whitehouse vs. somebody meriting out well wishes, clearly not some inhuman monster. If nothing else, it makes it blatantly clear what a steaming pile of BS the original assertions were.

be well and have a good one

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4 users have voted.

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Anja Geitz's picture

@enhydra lutris

And it's the argument I'm using when anyone brings up Russia, Russia, Russia.

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3 users have voted.

There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

Let's pray that Trump leads the horse-drawn carriage, followed by all his appointments.

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1 user has voted.

If the Democrats really believed what they have been saying about Trump being a fascist dictator they would have impeached him for being a fascist dictator.

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6 users have voted.

I cried when I wrote this song. Sue me if I play too long.