camouflage
gaslit at scale.
Posting here give me the creeps, but i cant not at least this...
What stupid shit has Trump done today?
- Thread starter Yossarian
- Start date
CRI
Registered Chooser
Yuwipi Woman
Whack-A-Mole Queen
I've begun to think of a lot of Trump administration policy as "soft genocide", not just of native people, but of anyone who is poor, brown, disabled, sick, etc. His policies are going to result in a lot of preventable deaths. I know that sounds overly dramatic, but this is only one in a large number of polices that hurt people. His administration just filed papers to try to end Obamacare, which as flawed as it is, still saves thousands of lives per year. If you look at longevity statistics, the US has been losing a month or two off of the average lifespan for several years in a row.
Last edited:
Yuwipi Woman
Whack-A-Mole Queen
Thanks for that. Sometimes I think I must be making stuff up in my head.
CRI
Registered Chooser
No, not overly dramatic at all. Even after all that's happened in the past 3 years, I still find myself sometimes thinking, "No way can this be happening in the US," but it doesn't take long until it's impossible to deny the reality.
The "chaos" in the Trump administration isn't because of incompetence or lack of strategy. It's to give the illusion of that, and to mess with people's heads to grind them down. Whether it's Trump himself, the people in his inner circle or a combo of both, it's all far too deliberate to be just random shit. There's a clear pattern to who suffers the most under the current regime, as well as who gains. Even where his "base" suffer, or will do, especially if ACA is axed and jobs continue to bleed away, effects of climate change, etc., they'll probably stick with Trump so long as they believe that those folks they see as beneath them are suffering more - getting what they deserve (some parallels with Brexit here, perhaps.)
I've heard a few commentators suggest that people who are suffering and dying as a direct result of Trump/GOP policies aren't just collateral damage from a kleptocratic regime. Weeding out the weak, sick and otherwise "undesirable" and demoralising everyone else will make it easier to control people, to control the country. It's not beyond the realms of possibility that someone is thinking of this as a longer term strategy. I'd call that more than "soft" genocide personally.
CRI
Registered Chooser
Oh, total coincidence, I'm sure! 
William Barr’s Son-in-Law Just Landed a Job Advising Trump on “Legal Issues”
William Barr’s Son-in-Law Just Landed a Job Advising Trump on “Legal Issues”
CRI
Registered Chooser
William Barr became the US Attorney General on 14 February 2019 - around the same time his son in law's new post with the Trump administration was announced.
Yuwipi Woman
Whack-A-Mole Queen
I've heard a few commentators suggest that people who are suffering and dying as a direct result of Trump/GOP policies aren't just collateral damage from a kleptocratic regime. Weeding out the weak, sick and otherwise "undesirable" and demoralising everyone else will make it easier to control people, to control the country. It's not beyond the realms of possibility that someone is thinking of this as a longer term strategy. I'd call that more than "soft" genocide personally.
Its basic Maslow. People can't waste energy satisfying higher needs when they're busy scrambling for the basic needs of food, shelter, etc.
CRI
Registered Chooser
Can't bring myself to "like" this, but looks like it's headed in that direction . . .
Yuwipi Woman
Whack-A-Mole Queen
Of the programs that they propose cutting, that's probably one of the ones that could survive on its own. It also gets substantial funding from corporate sources. However, that's just the tip of the iceberg. They're also proposing cutting early education for low income students, special education, mental health aimed a school-age children, aides for children with disabilities, library and book services for blind children, library services on reservations, etc. Library services on reservations receive less than half the funding that non-reservation libraries receive. All of these cuts add up to a total of 7 billion dollars from education. These services are money well spent because they return several dollars in economic benefits for every dollar spent. Its also cheaper to fund education for vulnerable populations early in life, than spending money on prisons* later.
* Her and her brother, Eric Prince, own a large amount of stock in private prison corporations.
Last edited:
DeVos is just plain evil. In congressional hearings she simply repeats her talking points over and over no matter what question is asked. Awhile back I visited the G.W. Bush presidential library while in Dallas since I'd never seen one. At the entrance are bricks on the wall with the names of the donors who funded it.....including the DeVoses......and the UAE.
CRI
Registered Chooser
Thought this short thread sums up how Trump and white supremacists generally "flip the script" to nullify racism (same with homophobia, misogyny, Islamaphobia, transphobia, etc. etc.) and gee up his/their base of support. And, how this diverts attention from, or makes it easier to swallow, the harm Trump/GOP policies is causing for them.
Bit of background for those unfamiliar with the case - it's all rather weird:
Records: Police paid for hotel for brothers in Jussie Smollett case
Donald Trump says FBI will look into Jussie Smollett case
tl;dr - Police charge Black gay TV actor for falsely reporting racist, homophobic attack. All charges suddenly dropped. Trumpians outraged.
Bit of background for those unfamiliar with the case - it's all rather weird:
Records: Police paid for hotel for brothers in Jussie Smollett case
Donald Trump says FBI will look into Jussie Smollett case
tl;dr - Police charge Black gay TV actor for falsely reporting racist, homophobic attack. All charges suddenly dropped. Trumpians outraged.
krtek a houby
Merry Xmas!
Yuwipi Woman
Whack-A-Mole Queen
I have to wonder why the news media goes for a story like this. One guy made a false police report and we have to hear about it for weeks? That's gossip and drama, not news. It does nothing to educate or inform anyone. It only plays to the more petty aspects of human character, but there's probably money in it.
krtek a houby
Merry Xmas!
It's a distraction from real stories, and the Trumpists love it. It has no direct bearing on their lives but fills them with righteous indignation, so they can get one over on the libs/dems etc.
It does (in the current climate) make things more difficult for victims of hate crimes to come forward, though.
CRI
Registered Chooser
I don't think it's a mystery really. If he was a middling famous guy who wasn't black and gay, I doubt it would have got much traction. The media adore stories that are exceptions that they trumpet to prove the rule. In this case, it's that homophobia and racism aren't real. You get something similar when men are acquitted of rape and there are calls for the accuser to be outed and punished for "false accusations," when convictions rarely register a blip in the media. It's profitable (more clicks, more advertising sales) and also helps maintain narratives that the status quo is just fine (e.g. racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, etc. aren't "things" or in some cases are warranted.)
As an aside - there seem to be a lot of fishy things about this case. Chicago PD has form for corruption and racist policing. There had to be a reason the charges were dropped, but the case has been sealed. Also pretty unusual for the high ups in the Police to be so outspoken in their condemnation of the court's decision. It leaves reasonable doubt about absolutely everything, so no one looks clean.
krtek a houby
Merry Xmas!
CRI
Registered Chooser
Somewhere, someone in his entourage has a plan or plans, even if it's not him, and even if it's not absolutely concrete. There's too much of a pattern to what's happening for it to just be random or ranting. I tend to speak of "the Trump Administration" or "Trump and the GOP" rather than just Trump, because it's definitely not a solo effort. This also underpins why just getting him out of the White House alone won't either halt or reverse the rot.
CRI
Registered Chooser
CRI
Registered Chooser
Trump's "slo mo genocide" efforts comes from the same place as this shit the President is pulling in Brazil.
Withdrawing health care from indigenous people means they will get sick and die. The more that die, the easier it will be to take and exploit or sell the land they live on. Bolsanaro's effectively given the thumbs up to incursions already happening.
Indigenous groups in Brazil protest health care changes
World in Progress: Bolsonaro's rhetoric sparks surge in indigenous land grabs | DW | 27.03.2019
I said before that I suspect part of the reason for leaving all the national parks open but un or understaffed during the government shutdown was so that they'd get trashed, eco systems destroyed, etc., making it easier to justify exploiting them for minerals, logging, development, etc. And then there are the people being forced of their lands and out of their homes to make way for Trump's border wall . . .
Withdrawing health care from indigenous people means they will get sick and die. The more that die, the easier it will be to take and exploit or sell the land they live on. Bolsanaro's effectively given the thumbs up to incursions already happening.
Indigenous groups in Brazil protest health care changes
World in Progress: Bolsonaro's rhetoric sparks surge in indigenous land grabs | DW | 27.03.2019
I said before that I suspect part of the reason for leaving all the national parks open but un or understaffed during the government shutdown was so that they'd get trashed, eco systems destroyed, etc., making it easier to justify exploiting them for minerals, logging, development, etc. And then there are the people being forced of their lands and out of their homes to make way for Trump's border wall . . .
petee
no gods, no malarkey
oh, and this
During a February 8 appearance before the House Judiciary Committee, Whitaker, citing executive privilege, refused to answer similar questions from members of Congress about his conversations with the president about the investigation of Trump by the SDNY. But at that hearing, Whitaker pledged to cooperate fully with any investigation by the Justice Department’s Inspector General. That promise now appears disingenuous in light of Whitaker’s resignation and his statements to others in the department that he resigned so that he would not have to submit to questioning by the IG. That Whitaker has refused to answer such questions from Congress and will likely do the same regarding the IG raises the possibility that he may never be formally questioned by any governmental investigative or oversight entity about his conversations with the president.
https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2019/03/25/whitaker-fugitive-from-justice/
During a February 8 appearance before the House Judiciary Committee, Whitaker, citing executive privilege, refused to answer similar questions from members of Congress about his conversations with the president about the investigation of Trump by the SDNY. But at that hearing, Whitaker pledged to cooperate fully with any investigation by the Justice Department’s Inspector General. That promise now appears disingenuous in light of Whitaker’s resignation and his statements to others in the department that he resigned so that he would not have to submit to questioning by the IG. That Whitaker has refused to answer such questions from Congress and will likely do the same regarding the IG raises the possibility that he may never be formally questioned by any governmental investigative or oversight entity about his conversations with the president.
https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2019/03/25/whitaker-fugitive-from-justice/
Similar threads
- Poll
