Pres. Obama met with President-Elect Donald Trump on Thursday. The invitation was part of Obama’s call to Trump the morning after the election, and in modern history, the outgoing president always meets with the incoming president, usually within a week of the election. But in modern times, there’s never been a meeting like this, where the outgoing president had to sit in the Oval Office with the man who had been saying bigoted, racist bulls—t about him for eight years. Where the outgoing president was shellshocked that a madman might have the nuclear football.
The President-Elect was positioned right in front of Obama’s Martin Luther King Jr. bust, which is both sad and funny. If Trump was ever capable of feeling shame, it might have been awkward. But he is incapable of shame, because he’s just that stupid. He seemed legitimately surprised that he and Obama were able to speak, just the two of them, for an hour and a half. I think that’s why Trump looks so exhausted and pants-sh-tty too. This is a man who honestly thought he was going to spend the day announcing his new Breitbart/Trump TV project. He never thought he would win. Now people expect him to, like, have meetings that last for more than an hour. And during his naptime too!
President Obama says that if Trump succeeds, America succeeds, during White House meeting https://t.co/kDoELOHd18 https://t.co/5KsJqNGXlA
— CNN (@CNN) November 10, 2016
It’s a shame that everyone in the media thought Trump was a joke and he wasn’t pressed further about his health (or a million other things), because I bet you anything that Trump has significant problems with his blood pressure. Just the ham-color of his face… it’s not healthy. As for what was said… look, let’s not even pretend that this wasn’t one of Pres. Obama’s worst days. He looks shellshocked too, but he’s gracious and reasonable in the face of lunacy. And for what it’s worth, I guess the president-elect made an effort to be gracious too. I would have loved to hear what they actually said to each other, but we’ll never know.
It’s also worth noting that Donald Trump brought Melania to the White House too, and Melania and Michelle Obama met privately while their husbands were in the Oval Office. MCNBC said that the Trumps and the Obamas all got together at the end of their separate meetings, which would have been the traditional moment for a group photo… but it didn’t happen. Trump also brought his son-in-law Jared Kushner, who got a tour of the White House grounds with Obama’s chief of staff. There’s now speculation that Trump will appoint Jared as his chief of staff, but many point out that appointing Kushner would be a violation of federal law. So, probably not. But I bet Kushner becomes his adviser, because Trump really does trust and like Kushner. Ugh.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
I read somewhere last night that he’s seriously considering Steve Bannon for Chief of Staff, which is an absolutely horrifying prospect.
I hope that’s not true. I get why he chose him to get elected but at this point he doesn’t need to court the crazy any more.
He needs to keep fanning the flames of hate to distract his supporters from his utter incompetence and the destructiveness of the policies of his political party. Steve Bannon will be there in the White House one way or another.
Apparently Reince Preibus (sp?) is the only name on the “list” for Chief of Staff. Ugh.
You need to hope that’s who he chooses. At least Preibus is a grown up, has relationships with multiple members of congress and knows how the whole ever loving process works. Chief of Staff is about making all the trains run properly. Man baby Trump and his band of idiots like Corey Lewandowski are in no way equipped to handle it.
Just announced, It IS PReibus.
Of the names bantered, he would be the best choice IMO.
What Kate said
He’s supposedly considering Jared Kushner, Reince Priebus, and Steve Bannon.
If Bannon is chosen, things will get ugly in this country. Ugly in a way we have never seen. If Bannon gets the job it will clearly show what the admin will look like and I for one will be beyond outraged.
Would Jared Kushner be considered nepotism, though? Where is the line on that? *off to Google*
I’m not sure if that would technically be considered nepotism because they aren’t blood relatives, but I could easily be wrong.
I believe federal law prohibits relatives from taking paid positions. Kushner will continue to be an advisor. He will still be a significant voice.
Trump looked scared & overwhelmed as his day progressed. I think he is shell shocked both by what he learned & how well prepared the Obama administrations transition team is. Trumps transition team is woefully unprepared for the task at hand. They have yet to reach out to the Pentagon transition team.
The protests on his doorstep & throughout the country have rocked him. He is unused to the level of scrutiny to which he is now subject. He has not shown himself to have the skill set to handle being POTUS. His presidency will largely be one of delegation.
The man we have seen on the campaign IS the SAME who is our President Elect. Our refusal to accept that is to our shame and our peril.
Cran, you said it all. And just imagine Trump meeting with the Pentagon only DAYS after he called all of our military leaders “a bunch of losers”!
This is the most unreal week of my life as a political activist. It simply feels unreal, and that cliché you hear so often — “I keep thinking it’s all a bad dream I’m going to wake up from” — that sensation keeps recurring in me. The tears have stopped, but the anger and the bruised sense of justice are not going away.
And to add to the irony and frustration of this moment in our nation’s history: According to the NYTimes this morning, Clinton’s popular-vote margin (which was more than 1.5 percentage points) is larger than were those of Al Gore in 2000, Richard Nixon in 1968, and John F. Kennedy in 1960.
I think it’s actually irrelevant if Bannon gets the position. He is embedded in the Trump “presidency” and a “trusted” advisor. Things will get ugly anyhow and not because of Bannon but because apparently that’s what our fellow citizens want – those that voted for Trump and those that abstained or went 3rd party. They actively decided that the hateful and vile things said and done were A-OK because (insert whatever BS reason).
My wish and prayer is that Trump has Obama on speed dial 🙂 Trump is going to need someone distanced, objective with intelligence.
Only 1,452 days 8 hours 34 minutes13 seconds until the next US presidential election.
He’s going to have Pence be his advisor, he won’t be contacting Obama again once the inauguration takes place.
An amazing piece by Bill Moyers: http://billmoyers.com/story/farewell-america/
Yes, He did it. Steve Bannon is in, Jared will have to be in the background. Too many nuts all together in this bunch. I give Bannon maybe 90 days before he get replaced.
Trump is shook to his damn core. He’s sitting there like kids used to sit in class when you’re about to present your book report and all they did was read the effin’ flap. He knows shit. Inadequate. Incompetent. Substandard. Fail.
I bet he’s reading ‘How to Pass a Bill for Dummies’ in his spare time.
He really does look petrified.
He does-and I don’t feel sorry for him at all. His first week in office is going to choke him. The only people I feel sorry for are the poor who voted for him because they are have no idea how scary this is going to get.
He really does look like hell. I mean he always does but there was something extra happening there. Full on hellbeast mode. Scared sh*tless hellbeast. Yep.
It would be hilarious if the consequences weren’t so dire.
I think this is his pensive look, thinking about who should “disappear” first.
“The only people I feel sorry for are the poor who voted for him”
That’s a myth, most people making less than $50,000 voted for Hillary. Trump voters were largely people mAking over $70,000. This was also shown in a study by the AP 2 months before the election. The mainstream media just chooses to ignore it. Bill Maher brings it up often.
Trump voters all have jobs and a lot of them have college educations, they don’t even live near immigrants. Their main concern is their children not having the same white privilege and opportunities they had.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/08/12/a-massive-new-study-debunks-a-widespread-theory-for-donald-trumps-success/
Absolutely agree, he looks completly lost, and I think he is in shock at the job he had just taken on, I think no way he ever really thought he would win, and now he cant do anything about it, this is going to be fun to watch, if it wasnt so serious.
This! His face here and even at his victory speech and walk off stage is that of someone who has realises how truly out of his depth he is. Its like the reality of just how much work this will mean has hit him. No more standing in front of an adoring crowd spouting his crap. His life is the publics for 4 years and he knows it. No smugface no beaming from ear to ear. He didn’t want to win, he just didnt want to lose.
I hope Obama frightened the living shit out of him
“He didn’t want to win, he just didn’t want to lose.”
THIS. So much this.
And we all will pay the price. At this point we can only hope he chooses to surround himself with the more moderate members of his fan club and that Pence doesn’t ever have to step in and take the reins.
Thats it exactly Esmom. Im irish, have only visited the US (a lot admittedly) but i am SO ANGRY for the american people right now. That because of his ego and narcissism and ability to appeal to the lowest common denominator you are now stuck with this grossly unqualified and dangerous individual and his VP.
In the same vein, Obama looks so resigned and annoyed/disappointed.
Can we just discuss what a class act Barack and Michelle are?!? Like my god, grace and power is an understatement.
Agree @Lindy! He never thought he would win. He underestimated the robustness of the system. It was cracked and ready to crumble. Broken in ways n one ever imagined.
I rest my faith on his choosing advisors who know how govt works, and his listening to them. Um, we can only go up from here?
@Lindy- You wouldn’t believe the number of people on my FB feed who voted for Trump and are now trying to spin it that they only voted for him because they wanted “change.” They swear they really didn’t pay attention to his policies or speeches – because “change!” Ugh. So now I’m not sure if they are all horribly racist or just powerfully stupid.
If you voted for a racist candidate, you are either an unabashed racist or you are complicit in racism. The latter makes you racist—just at a different level. To be complicit is oftentimes worse. Clinton was not wrong to refer to select Trump supporters as “baskets of deplorables.” If anything, she underestimated how many of them there were—notably those just like him.
I think the same here. He was playing a big game and I don’t think for a second he actually thought of the winning itself. Someone on his team maybe was hoping, planning, dreaming of this moment but not him. I mean even his wife was all MEH on this matter. Not prepared, not enthusiastic nothing. Now he has to WORK for real and do things that will have an effect on millions of people lives and he is not going to do it without having to ask other people around him or he will be forced to do things out of his will or dreams. He will go crazy. Look at Obama. He got white hairs in a matter of months and he was young and prepared. The orange one??? Hmmmm.
I talked with some friends of mine that are legal emigrants in the US. They couldn’t vote as they still aren’t US citizens BUT they were with him (something to do with being white go figure) and even they couldn’t explain to me why. One said, and i quote: So the gays will know now where their place is because they were taking over America. Whaaaaaat???????
If there is a God, every negative thing that is no doubt headed his way for the next four years (that he well deserves) will break him irrevocably. I told my sister yesterday, after she said he’d be assassinated, that I doubt that. I worried Obama would be, because there are crazies in this country, and I know people who wished for it (people I do not willingly associate with.) I don’t want Trump assassinated, I want him to suffer to the pain, as Westley said. He made his bed, now he has to lie in it. He earned this job, oh boy did he ever. 😈 I’m sure he’ll still weasel out of as much as he can, but if it is not fully impressed upon him just how f#cking hard it is to be president, I think that’s when I’ll flee to Canada or wherever. Time for him to get all the blame for crap he has flung at Obama for eight years.
@lindy79 – exactly what you said. I think although he was exhausted & likely unhealthy, those Rallies were fun for him. He could babble away, not make sense & the crazies in the crowd still screamed in joy. It was prob as close to being a rockstar as one could get.
Now it’s all going to be regimented & disciplined. Practically every second accounted for. I think he’s losing it.
I have this weird weird feeling that he isn’t going to be president. I don’t know if it’s just denial on my part or psychic ability…lol….he could resign before ever being sworn in, right? I must google what would happen if a president elect did that.
Trump probably found out what they say all modern presidents have found out: They are essentially figureheads and the powers-that-be are for none to see. That’s the way real power operates. Trump’s next few years (if he even passes the physical examination required to become president) are going to be living hell. It would not surprise me if it’s finally leaked he has serious heart problems and possibly cirrhosis from heavy tippling (done behind closed doors). Suicide runs in families, and I’ve heard more than one person say, after the way the Trumps looked on election night, one of them will likely be found dead at some point.
My brother had a theory from the very beginning: Trump never really wanted to be / thought he would be President, he just did it for the publicity and to get people interested in his latest business venture or TV station or whatever. Of course now that it’s sinking in he’s shell-shocked and probably (even if only subconsciously) terrified.
Hell, I wouldn’t want to be Prime Minister here in Canada, and I’d like to think that I’m much smarter and a way more rational person than Trump.
I read an interview with one of his early campaign staff, wish I could recall her name, who got the hell out as soon as she realized it was a boatload of crazy. She said exactly that. That it was understood that this was a vanity project for ego and publicity, and that Trump didn’t expect or desire to win.
I think his plan was to launch his own “Fox News” and lifestyle network with the Trumps as stars. On the plus side- he will probably lose a fortune now….
I said the same thing around February. Because no matter how big his ego, he MUST know that he is simply ill-prepared for this. And I never believed he actually wanted to work as much as a president does.
I bet that as soon as he sat down with Obama and started seeing what is actually ahead, he started to plan his exit.
Someone on one of the major news outlets predicts that either Trump will quit before his term is up, or the Republicans will find a way to impeach him – because don’t really want him, they want Pence. It’s not that far fetched either, think about all the Republicans who were hesitant to endorse him….. Could be VERY interesting to watch.
Also, Cheeto is trying to delay his Trump University fraud trial until after the election. My guess is he’ll do a settlement, paying off the litigants with money from his rich backers. I’d be surprised if he goes to court at this point – he’s already freaking out about what he’s reading in the daily briefing papers he is receiving from the Obama Administration. He can’t be sidetracked by a pesky fraud problem!
Vava, may I ask what news outlet?
I said this at the beginning and actually predicted that he would drop out instead of sharing his taxes. Time and time again I said this – what I didn’t realize was that the populace would keep moving the line in the sand when it came to Trump. No other candidate would have been able to get away with not sharing the information but for him the line moved to – it’s not a legal requirement to show taxes, it’s not big deal, well he’s under audit so afterwards. Excuses and rationalization – pathetic.
@Pimms
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/11/11/prediction-professor-who-called-trumps-big-win-also-made-another-forecast-trump-will-be-impeached/
I might sound naive but I don’t think he ever wanted to be the President. He probably wants to win a competition but he seems completely out of his comfort zone in these pictures, like when you get the job and you have no idea on how to do things and you hope some in your office will help you get through the day.
^^^^^ 1000% THIS.
Also, I bet it is a DIFFICULT-ASS job that requires this thing called “work,” which Trump probably hasn’t done since he was a much younger man.
This, plus his reported very, very short attention span. His feet will be held to the fire. This is not a reality show where filming stops and he can go do his own thing.
This is likely the first time in 70 years he may be held accountable and not have a way to pass the buck. The buck stops at his new job.
Look at how every modern president visibly aged over four to eight years. It’s stressful, no doubt.
The scary thing is the undeniable inevitability that trump will lash out against the press or foreign leaders when he doesn’t get his way/gets frustrated. He’s never ever ever been held to account. He’s 70 and this is the first time he will experience accountability. This won’t end well.
We all need to be vigilant in our defense of the free press and free speech. ANYTHING that is even close to limiting the press or speech needs to be met with overwhelming public force.
I love it the biggest civil servant in the country!
He looks petrified and he should be!
My husband and friends are on news blackout. I will only care if he gets rid of Obamacare.
Explain to me why they hate Obamacare. My husband is self employed. We need insurance. We got it. I am fine with it.
Exactly this. There are journos who were embedded with Trump who are saying that he never wanted or expected to win. The look on his face since election night says it all – he’s shocked.
This is a man whose entire life has been self gratifying and now he will be the biggest civil servant in the country for the next 4 years. I honk he’s legitimately freaking out just like the rest of us.
How did you hear of these journalists? I’m very curious, as I was nearly rabidly following this insanity and missed it.
NotSoSocialButterfly Katy Tur on MSNBC has been embedded with Trump campaign from the beginning. She has being singled out & namechecked by Trump often at his rallies. To the point that the crowds openly mock and harass her. She has stated on air that he has come to the press pen after his rallies and off camera and told them he understands what he has done when he is on stage denigrating the media and stoking the media. He fully understands he has made the media targets and he doesn’t apologize for it.
Katy is a really good journalist. She is neither scared nor cowed by this treatment. She is willing to listen and learn but she is not swayed by his honeyed words. She gets who he is and how he operates.
It is surprising, how many women would love to be grabbed by the Pussy.
The dude really does look petrified. Even Orange Satan can’t believe he won.
I agree. He’s just done a months-long drunken rampage through a democracy and now he’s got the hangover to prove it. Which begs the question, who is going to run him?
Maybe Melania will be the dark horse who saves us all.
Putin. His arse belongs to Putin.
Paul Ryan.
I mean, I’m assuming you guys have some invisible deep state types. So it could be invisible men? It could be Pence? It could be Paul Ryan? Or it could be that the various factions of the GOP have ongoing internal civil wars about who runs him?
Man alive. It’s all hideous, isn’t it?
@Sixer, on domestic issues, Ryan will be in total control. And Paul Ryan is an evil man who believes that a woman’s reproductive system shuts down during rape so she can’t get pregnant and all our social programs should be eliminated. Putin will control foreign policy. Putin bought this election.
@hunter That would assume that trump takes Melania seriously. He does not. She is a decoration. Something to look at and not heard from.
@Kitten The election showed that trump thinks Paul Ryan is weak and a member of the elite class. I doubt he take Ryan seriously. trump holds a grudge (Rosie O’Donald anyone?) and he will likely try to get revenge on Ryan for not being a loyal supporter.
My bet? Bannon. He will be a major part of the administration whether or not he has an official title.
@Sixer. Trump’s just the face and the hair. Its the three ‘P’s in charge now.
Pence
Putin
Paul (Ryan)
Did you see Paul Ryan at their joint press conference? He was watching Trump like a Mom who’s coached her son on how to talk to grownups. “Now, what do we say….?”
@Lightpurple
I think you are thinking of Todd Akin.
Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. I honestly don’t know what else to say.
I’m so sorry, you guys.
I don’t think he expected to win and I now suspect he did not want to win. Maybe he thought he would get to blame the corrupt system for him losing and this would have been enough to keep him happy and relevant for many years. Now he’s won he is in shock as it all rests on his shoulders. He looked nervous in the Obama press meeting. Also, I think his life is now in danger from assassination by some crazy lunatic and this is now just dawning on him.
Yes. He thought he could sit in his tacky gilded golden tackfest tower screaming about rigged elections and crooked hillary and launch business ventures off the back of this. Thats all a distant memory. He cant even let his kids run his businesses as he thought he could but it would breach federal law.
Hes now got people protesting this, has probably had more information thrown at him in the last 2 days than his pea brain can remotely comprehend and he’s internally freaking out.
F*ck him because if he taps out or dies you get Pence who is grotesque and evil beyond my comprehension.
SO ANGRY
@Lindy – I agree with the F*ck him sentiment. I think the only way that Pence & Ryan will back off is IF the kids insert themselves which is what I think will happen. I think the Children of the Corn want to make the decisions and he will defer to them first above all. Hmmm, this may be fun after all.
The look on his face says it all “WTF did I get myself into?” What pisses me off is all these fools trying to tell me I need to get behind him and its Unamerican to want him to fail. Um, really? These same MF were the ones crying talking about end of days when Obama was elected, calling him out of his name, and cheering when he couldn’t get anything passed.
Exactly!! Gah. I keep seeing people in my FB feed posting memes about “working together” and supporting our president.
BITCH PLEASE. Tell it to Mitch McConnell.
Thanks Kitten for your choice words. Perfect.
I can’t support anyone who doesn’t support me and the people and the planet that I love. I don’t see why I should be expected to support him. I still obey the rule of law, but that’s not the same as obeying the rule of him.
He’s a direct threat and people know it.
Have to disagree with you here. If you are American and live in America, you’re not actually ‘protected’ from anything if Trump fails.
Wishing for him to fail, what would that look like?
– S0 the riots would go down every street but yours?
-The grocery stores would run out of food, but you would somehow have cheese?
-Inflation would rise a crazy amount, we’d all pay 10 bucks for milk, but you’d still pay a dollar?
You may not have voted for him. (I know I didn’t). But what happens to those that did *will* effect you. And me. And all of us.
It behooves us all to wish for continued peace and prosperity for OUR country. Even for those on the opposite end of the voting spectrum. Because chances are, if they chose to vote for Trump, they’re already suffering.
Elaine, I hear you but I have to respond to your last line. I know people who voted for Trump who are clearly not suffering. Their country club memberships are in good standing. They voted for Trump because they can’t tolerate the thought of “taco trucks on every corner” and are still angry that a black man became POTUS.
Kitten, I’m SO done with that crap. I keep seeing people who voted Trump, the straight white variety who will not be affected by this sh!t, telling anyone who’s upset to “forget the past and think about the future,” or “love your neighbor and stop spreading hate,” or, “stop whining,” or “shut up and get over it because he’s the president.”
Mother f*cker, tell that to the people who are having hate crimes committed against them in the name of a man who based his entire running platform on degradation, otherisation, and hate speech, because he’s now been legitimized as the president-elect.
Tell that to my transgender friends who are scrambling to change their names and gender makers on passports and IDs before
It becomes impossible to do so.
Tell that to my gay friends who are scrambling to get married before they no longer have the legal right to do so.
Tell that to the MIDDLE SCHOOL children of Mexican descent at the school my mother teaches at who are being told they’re going to be deported.
And also… go grab yourself by the pussy.
As in, go f*ck yourself.
I don’t want the country to fail, but if this ship goes down those fuckers are going down with all of us. Remember when the captain of the Titanic said a captain goes down with his ship? Trump would be Billy Zane trying to weasel his way onto the lifeboats. I think it’s pretty unamerican to say you don’t care about minorities or gays or women’s rights because the working class is struggling. His supporters and voters have said things like that. My mom said the rights of a small minority shouldn’t take precedence over the struggling middle class. Nah, screw kumbaya. If the ship goes down, those people go down with it.
@ Elaine- “It behooves us to wish for peace and prosperity..”
Why and how? Because wishing for something will magically make it so?
I want this country to feel the full weight of their mistake and maybe then people will learn. In the interim, I’m not wishing for anything except for Trump to be revealed as the self-interested, unqualified, raging megalomaniac that he is.
And to echo what Esmom and Shamby so astutely pointed out: these people, the so-called “disenfranchised” are a lot of white middle class folks who have been faring quite well for the past 8 years.
So DONE with coddling and trying to understand Trump-supporters. No sympathy. NONE.
@Elaine, I pray that somehow, in spite of himself, Trump succeeds in keeping the peace for the duration of his term, however long that may be. I also pray that he fails in every attempt to impose his policies on this nation because if he succeeds in passing/implementing his policies, this nation will not succeed.
Kitten, I am with you (and I’m Canadian and KNOW the trump presidency will greatly affect my wonderful country). I want people to see what voting for Trump actually means. He’s not bringing back the manufacturing jobs – there aren’t any to bring back! He’s going to make atrocious trade deals that is going to make buying goods incredibly expensive. And f’ing Ryan is going to privatize medicaide and social security – these poor people who voted for him are SCREWED.
The rich will feel no pain from his mistakes, but the rest of us, poor, middle-class, and upper middle-class will. Its inevitable. “supporting” trump won’t stop that. Trump is a lunatic. LUNATIC. He is mentally and emotionally unstable and has the mind-set of an angry, spoiled child. He is irrational and tyrannical and enjoys conflict if it gets him attention. This man now has the power to start world wars and destroy the freedoms of anyone who is not white and male. “supporting” him is a form of denial. It may make you feel better to think that as long as you hug a trump voter and wish for the best, the worst won’t happen, but it doesn’t work like that. We are all in big, big trouble.
EXACTLY, Kitten. These are the same people who called liberals who criticized Bush “unAmerican”, then proclaimed themselves “real patriots” when they spewed viciousness at Obama at every opportunity. These are the same people who obstructed him for every single thing because they couldn’t stand that they’d lost to THAT man. These are the same people who cheered at Trump rallies that everyone who wasn’t them was sub-human and fair game for persecution. And now they’re telling us we need to “get over it and come together”? Go f*ck yourselves.
Exactly! I’ve been saying this since the 9th – the hell with you all after what you put Obama and the country though.
Have you guys heard of #notmypresident?
My niece has been tweeting it all over the place and a bunch of her friends are joining the massive Washington DC protest on Inauguration Day. Granted T will just think the crowd is for him.
I have to disagree with the suggestion that Americans of the “straight white variety” wont be negatively affected by Trump’s election. There’s more to his declared plan than immigration policies. His environmental policies alone have given me sleepless nights. Removing restrictions on the oil, gas and coal industries?! That will hurt us all. Some will be hit harder than others, yes, but even the maligned white, straight middle class is going to feel the punch
I thought it was just me being a bitter cakes. In every picture I have seen of him since Tuesday, he looks stunned and unhappy. He looks like the dog who just caught the car and has no clue what to do with it.
I agree – he never thought he was going to win. Trump looks like he’s just wet his pants in that picture – maybe Marco Rubio was on to something.
When he and his entourage walked onto the stage they all looked like they were wondering how they all got there. No one looked happy, especially Melania. Of course my first thought was “how tall is Barron, he’s only 10?!”
He’s figuring out who will run the country for him and it’s going to be Mike Pence. Trump will likely be a figurehead president which is even scarier than him actually trying to BE president. Trump is unqualified which would make it harder for him to get things done. Pence shares many of Trump’s views and worse and knows what he is doing so he will be able to get some of his agenda passed. Then he will run for President and everyone who is angry at Trump but doesn’t want a Democrat in the office will be thrilled Pence is running and won’t realize he has already been their President for the past 4 years. Ugh.
It will be the Children of the Corn without a doubt.
Yes! Petrified and overwhelmed to even be next to Obama. Watching this lunatic sit there was excruciating. It’s like a fly on wedding cake. Bizarre, surreal and horrifying. Trump has zero idea how to do the job he was hired for and it looks like he realizes that as he is sitting there. And I agree that Obama looks shell shocked.
The Shade room had the most perfect capture of his OH SH*T face yesterday during this meeting. He is clearly just as scared of his own presidency as we all are. I don’t know yet whether that makes me feel better or worse.
He already has “Oh sh*t this is serious ” face. Obama also had the same face after he met Bush W. Makes me wonder what the heck really does happen in those meetings because they always come out somber & look a bit scared.
I like to imagine that JK Rowling got it right. The portraits in the room magically come alive and the President-Elect gets introduced to the wizarding community.
It definitely explains the shell-shocked look they all wear.
He does look surprised, no doubt. Though I don’t think due to sudden feelings of inadequecy. He’s too arrogant to feel that so intensely as it appears. I suspect the DC power players have sat him down and given him the score. Election win or not, he won’t be calling the shots here.
Exactly Artemis – in fact, I bet inside his head he’s still trying to memorize “I’m just a bill..and I’m sitting here on Capital Hill..”
This just makes it seem too real. I don’t live in America and these photos make me want to cry.
Yeah, these photos yesterday gave me a fleeting sense that I had somehow ended up in an alternate reality. Seriously, my brain could not process them.
“He lost the popular vote by a lot and won the election. We should have a revolution in this country! The phoney electoral college made a laughing stock out of our nation. The loser one! We can’t let this happen. We should march on Washington and stop this travesty. Our nation is totally divided! More votes equals a loss…revolution! This election is a total sham and a travesty. We are not a democracy! Our country is now in serious and unprecedented trouble…like never before. The electoral college is a disaster for a democracy.”
– Donald J Trump, November 2008
Via twitter Via Mashable
http://mashable.com/2012/11/06/trump-reacts-to-election/#io7HCLzgOkqZ
Sharing this for anyone who’s being told by the people who openly supported a man who built his platform on hateful rhetoric that is now causing hate crimes across the country, that we basically need to shut up about it and “all come to together” and “look toward the future.” I love you and I’m with you. This sucks.
Oddly Obama won the popular vote significantly so why Trump was angry is baffling. I guess now that he won the electoral college isn’t so bad.
Yeah, and now that he won the system isn’t apparently rigged, either. I’d laugh if I wasn’t so ready to cry. Again.
wasn’t his first tweet from 2009 to promote his interview with Letterman?
These tweets were after the 2012 election.
My bad, you’re right. It was 2012, not 2008.
From the Washington Post:
“Morgan said many Trump supporters were “pretty much talking 1776-style revolution” if Clinton had won. But with Trump in the White House, they now see a chance for their beliefs and ideas to be taken seriously at the highest levels of government.”
“Since the election, Johnson, the white supremacist, who has said U.S. citizenship should be limited to white people with “no ascertainable trace of Negro blood,” has been emailing and calling Trump campaign officials, and people at the conservative Heritage Foundation, to promote himself and allies for positions in the Trump administration. He said they could be a “conscience” pressuring Trump “to live up to some of his pro-white, pro-nationalist, pro-populist political campaign promises.””
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/the-alt-right-used-to-be-ignored-now-theyre-courting-a-president-elect/2016/11/10/746341d8-a75b-11e6-8fc0-7be8f848c492_story.html
“‘Get some of them to kill themselves’: Popular neo-Nazi site urges readers to troll liberals into suicide”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/11/11/get-some-of-them-to-kill-themselves-popular-neo-nazi-site-urges-readers-to-troll-liberals-into-suicide/?hpid=hp_rhp-morning-mix_mm-stormer%3Ahomepage%2Fstory
I don’t get feeling threatened by 6% of the population…Anyway, these poor folks are in for a rude awakening. Trump, nor the rest, gives a damn about them. They got the southern method and after all these years they still got fooled by it.
Trump rode on that all the way to the white house.
DNC is also done after hilary effed up. After her treatment of the ones who voted for her (not even thanking them) and throwing them under the bus, they will never again vote Democrat. I personally know several of them and all of them of various different backgrounds.
Independent all the way from now on.
One of those trolls is here right now.
There is no way his advisors are going to sign that guy up for jack sh!t, he was just good PR to appeal to the people in the back woods.
@ chn
You’re deluding yourself if you think it’s only 6% of the population that thinks this way. There are a lot of closet bigots out there and now they feel emboldened to come out of the shadows and into the light. Unfortunately, there are millions of people who do feel afraid and threatened by them. I personally am not afraid because if those idiots honestly think this country is moving backwards to Jim Crow and Segregation, they are in for a rude awakening.
Now that we know this is their plan, it’s our responsibility to take action against it. It’s our duty to stay vigilant and show that love does indeed trump hate. If you see someone getting harassed online it’s your moral obligation to bring the love and support. Send that person a private message & let them know you’re there for them. The smallest gestures can make the biggest difference.
When they go low, we go high.
Actually, chn, the most likely outcome is that once Trump has served his term, the next POTUS will be a Democrat, and they will be far more left-wing than Hilary. The pendulum of American politics always swings back with equal force.
True. But this pendulum isnt righting itself. Bush begat Obama, Obama begat Trump. What the hell will four or eight years of Trump give us?
I don’t know Melly. I’m ready to go low honestly. You cannot have reasonable conversations with his supporters – you cannot use facts, common sense or rationalization – they only understand lies, name-calling and vile statements. May have to go the same route .
The fact that Obama was forced to meet with a man that started the birther movement and Michelle was forced to meet with someone that plagiarized her in speech…well that’s America in a nutshell for black people. Forced to be nice and rise above people that dragged you down the day before lest we become the savages.
Right? I was in tears yesterday watching their little presser – the sheer awfulness of it was overwhelming.
I couldn’t watch. I just couldn’t
it bothers me that POTUS has to entertain this fool, same with FLOTUS
Orange Julius doesn’t deserve to be in the same CITY as POTUS, much less the same room.
Like others, all the pics of Obama are giving me major sads. Sigh.
I just cannot believe that we’re going from President Obama (personally my fave president of my lifetime) to this garbage. SMDH How far we have fallen…
Sorry but its not just the most recent POTUS (who is mixed race) who is forced to meet with, and be civil to, his predecessor.
Bush the first had to meet with Clinton , who of course criticized and denigrated his policies.
Bush the second had to meet with Obama, who had similarly said negative things about him. That’s just our (the American) system.
Peaceful transfer of power and all that.
Yeah, but none of it was personal. Bill Clinton didn’t say that Bush I was having an affair with a longtime aide (which he allegedly was). Obama didn’t say that Bush II was a dry drunk with party-crazy daughters. Trump has personally criticised and lied about President Obama’s birthplace and religion. It’s different when it’s personal.
Are you serious?! This isn’t about party lines this is about the PERSONAL attacks the trumps have leveled against the Obamas since he’s been in office. Your examples don’t even come CLOSE to the same thing.
Seriously stop being so obtuse
This is the new thing, guys: Trumpsplaining.
sigh. No one is ‘trumpsplaining’ (but catchy way to delegitimize my opinions). Only attempting to see both sides and reach for balance.
If you only see Trump as a monster, then you will never see him clearly. And it will be that much harder for you to effectively work against him. Ditto with labelling him a cartoon or a joke. You have to know your adversary before you can defeat him.
@Nicole. One could argue that Trump was just as insulted by Obama as Obama was insulted by him. Yet both chose to rise above their mutual rancor, and come together for the greater good. Our country.
I still believe in the good in our country. And I don’t wish anyone suffering. Regardless of how they voted.
You wish for vengeance?
You are alone in that.
@Elaine
You can’t “nice” this away, unfortunately. I wish we could. Calling things as they are isn’t “vengeance”, its honesty, and we as a country need to be ruthlessly honest about how dangerous it is for trump to be the U.S president.
Michelle Obama gave a speech recently about taking the high road. Why should she not practise what she preaches. Obama was attacked relentlessly and personally in 2008. He was the wrong sort of black- Jesse Jackson, he was Barack HUSSEIN Obama – Hilary Clinton, birthers- trump & co. He shook their hand and moved it along. He is the grown up in the room. Why should he devolve into tantrums, abuse, poor manners now when he has always shown grace and good example?
Do people really want him to react to Trump in a way that draws the country into anarchy? Who does that serve?
Barack Obama and Michelle have shown class in the face of unclassy. That should be the standard, not devolve into abusing your fellow countrymen and refusing to engage.
Late life Mandela not early life Mandela people.
@Elaine, Omarosa has said that Trump himself is keeping a list of enemies upon whom he has sworn vengeance. You’re projecting.
Here I fixed it for you “If you only see Trump as an angel, then you will never see him clearly.” No one is projecting or making things up regardless of the deflection by his fans – T made vile, personal attacks against Obama. He attacked his wife because Melania plagiarized her speech. This isn’t politics and this isn’t normal and his election does not negate the vileness of his being. Seems like his fans have a double standard – T wasn’t going to peacefully concede had he lost and his fans were ready to actually kill people (many quoted across the country) had he lost BUT now that he won they would like his coronation to go as smoothly as possible because after all USA.
As a white person, even on a “good” day i’m unable to fully wrap my mind around the black/brown experience. Admittedly I get a little nervous discussing the issue because I don’t want to be unintentionally offensive or pretend like I even clue about what they deal with on a daily basis. I do want to be an ally to the cause of equality. I am unwavering in my belief that equal rights for all makes us collectively stronger. One person/group having the same rights as me does not diminish my rights. Diversity of perspective, thoughts, traditions, etc makes us better and more informed.
I can’t imagine what people of color / non-white / non-christian people are going through. The fear and anger must be overwhelming.
Thank you Melly! I can’t speak for all black people obviously, but the anger, sadness and fear is strong right now. It’s painful in a way I can’t describe to have a man who looks like any man in my family be President for eight years and then now have a man who has been openly supported by the KKK and bigots around the country and is a bigot himself sit in the Oval Office and reside over America. It just hurts knowing so many people hate us and fellow POC and other minority groups because we are who are. We’re going backwards and that’s not what my parents or grandparents wanted for my generation. But thank you for being an ally.
This makes me crazy. When Bush Jr was elected I was deeply disappointed. I shook my head and I rolled my eyes and I went to bed that night gravely concerned, downight fearful, for the direction my country appeared to be headed in. But I didn’t feel personally attacked. I didn’t feel that those who voted him in did so, even in part, to hurt me or bease they hate me. It was a difference of opinion, is all. That so many feel genuinely frighted, or, as a friend said this morning, that the crosshairs were on his back … Christ almighty that’s a sad state of affairs. Makes me want to cry. It’s wrong, and I’m so sorry, MellyMel. Obama won 43% of the white vote in 2008. Almost 60% of the under 30 white vote. That’s maybe worth remembering, I think … I hope .. because those people are still out there.
@ Nicole, your comment breaks my heart and enrages me all at once, because it is so spot on, and so true.
I feel the same @Nicole. In fact, when I first heard Trump won my first thought was “Omg. Poor Barack. He’s going to have to stand there and welcome Trump into the White House. The Birther in Chief. A man who has denigrated him and tried to de-legitimize him for years.”
It’s weird but that was the first thought that popped into my head. I feel so bad for him.
Yup…a birther crackpot and a Slovenian porn model are now POTUS and FLOTUS. Only in “Murica…”
Yeah, idk how Obama did that. He’s a class act for sure. I remember trump stirring up the birther movement. For that reason, i would never vote for trump.
I feel a tiny bit sorry for Melania.. I think she wanted to step back and enjoy a life of luxury without having to pretend to be educated and appropriate for the role.
I don’t think she wanted to be the wife of the president but just the wife of a very rich man.
I also feel sorry for Michelle for having to write Melania’s speech as a first time FLOTUS. So much pressure!
I feel no pity for her. She could leave him any time she wants.
The last sit down interview with trump she said she was sure they were going to win. She was very confident when she said it. To me it seemed like she expected to win. At least in that interview.
I don’t get this poor Melania thing at all. She is an adult woman at almost 50. And she has said repeatedly not to feel sorry for her and that she is more knowledgable than you think, that she reads everything and clearly thinks she’s the right woman for the part.
She may well be right. She may well be better equipped than her husband.
To be fair, in the last interview she gave to Anderson Cooper and Fox News, she was clearly given lines to memorize and regurgitate on cue. It’s hard to know how she actually feels because I don’t think she has spoken freely or openly during the entire campaign.
I’m not saying we should feel sorry for her in any way. She is an extremely privileged 50 year old woman and she should be able to advocate for herself. At the same time, I wouldn’t put it past her husband to threaten her to stay in line.
“I also feel sorry for Michelle for having to write Melania’s speech as a first time FLOTUS. So much pressure!”
HAHAHAHAHA
As for the first part of your post..ZERO sympathy.
She reminds me of the Laura Linney character in mystic river. I think she is far more cunning and evil then anyone gives her credit.
Evil? Seriously loaded word. On the basis of what would you say that? I have read repeatedly that those who know her and have met her say that the woman is bright but quiet, and genuinely kind to others
If you can share any background to support your assertion I would be open to reading it.
Melania has just a few weeks to pick an inaugural ball dress that will outdo Michelle Obama’s. So sad. It should Hillary not her. Only in America can a poor little girl from Slovenia become a billionaire’s wife and FLOTUS.
Hah! Melania becoming FLOTUS is what helps me keep my sense of humor in the middle of all this awful! Just looking at her face when the whole family was on stage after Donald’s win, anybody could see she wasn’t thrilled. The woman never wanted to be under public scrutiny, and she never wanted to have to work. Now she’s gonna have to suffer being in the public eye all the time. And she’s going to be expected to champion some cause and actually do some work in support of it. All the while everyone’s comparing her to the incomparable Michelle and inspecting everything she puts out (and puts on). Being FLOTUS is not easy. I am SO looking forward to Melania’s term–heh-heh!
I suspect her modeling photos will gain new life.
the woman can barely speak unless coached so that sd be fun to watch.
I think Trump doesn’t want to be president. Yes, he wanted to win but that’s it.
I agree. He doesn’t really want to be President. He looks terrified.
I don’t even think he wanted to win! He just didn’t want to LOSE, and after he won the primary, he really didn’t have a way out…
Drumpf took to Twitter late last night to whine about people protesting his “successful election” and accused them of being “unfair.” Somebody got hold of his Twitter this morning and tweeted that the protestors have great passion for this country.
Clearly, his handlers do not have control of this overgrown, selfish infant.
See my above post. When Obama won the election in 2008, Trump had a Twitter freak out. He called for protests, called electoral college a sham, and complained that Obama had lost the popular vote but won the election. That didn’t actually happen, but it’s quite ironic since he himself lost the popular vote but won the election.
*2012
Om, I hadn’t heard that. And he called Hillary “the puppet.”
His tweets are just reinforcing the fear and anxiety that are causing people to protest. He’s unstable and unable to conduct himself in a manner befitting his position as Commander in Chief.
As I said above, we all need to be vigilant in our defense of free speech and free press. It would not be shocking to see trump try to limit those rights out of anger.
Lightpurple, Kitten, Sixer, Kaiser my other celebitches. I’m a late 40’s white woman living in GA who has never been so scared, disgusted or frightened for my country. Honestly, the last time i felt this discouraged, depressed and frozen was the unexpected death of a family member. However, I’m taking heart in the fact my younger sister and hubby who live in San Fran are both lawyers and huge HRC supporters. They and several of their friends are designating any time they can to offer free legal services to anyone negatively impacted by the new presidents policies. Quite frankly they plan to try to have him impeached because they are convinced he and his advisors will repeatedly break fundamental federal laws. Several law firms of their like minded friends have come out saying they will allow their associates time for volunteering, which is huge. I’ve already donated to Planned parenthood, the ACLU and a legal program for immigrants run by the lawschool by a local university. I am now wearing a safety pin and will continue to show my unwavering support to all people especially the groups under attack. They are my family members, froends, colleagues and my fellow humans. We are not going back to the dark ages, too many of us and we aren’t wallflowers. We can and must demand change! Still in shock though, but maybe that’s a good thing. It let’s me know how life altering this event truly is. Calling and writing my state and federal representatives.
Trump has realized that he can’t act like Trump anymore.
But he was acting like Trump last night when he took to Twitter to cry that protests against him were unfair.
He will have to stop with such things – whether he likes it or not.
When Obama was first elected, didn’t they take away his blackberry and other electronic devices? He had to be given secured government issued devices? And isn’t there White House that handles all social media?
Secret service will put him on lockdown for his own safety.
He has no idea what he has gotten himself into.
I heard that he has to give up his personal cell phone (but maybe that is only for phone calls?). The reporter said BO had to do the same when elected.
The Secret Service took Obama’s Blackberry because it could be hacked. He later was allowed an iphone because it had better security.
@lightpurple – I think that might be backwards? I’m not sure what kind of smartphone Obama has now, but I recall he started out with a BlackBerry for security reasons. I know, not an important issue, but it caught my eye, because I’m in a tech industry, and security was always the selling point for BBs, I don’t recall anyone stating that iPhones had better security. Anyway, I think he might now have a different phone, but a one-of-a-kind super-secured thing. Basically, yeah, you’re not using your everyday equipment – you get government-controlled stuff. 🙂
@Ducky no, lightpurple is right. He went on a talk show and amusingly complained about the fact that he has an iPhone now but they’ve taken all the good stuff off it – no camera, no music. He said he thinks he has the weather app still, maybe.
He looks like a deer caught in the headlights. I think he loved the campaign, it’s all about winning, but now the reality is he is the President and looks like he doesn’t have a clue. His wife had the same look of fear and uneasiness in her pics with the FLOTUS. How very sad, the Beverly Hillbillies have just arrived.
The Beverly Hillbillies were kind people. I can’t imagine Elly Mae doing that type modeling, or the males saying the horrible things he has.
Yep. As others said above, he loved the adoration and the sound of his own pompous, bloviating ramblings. Now he actually has to act like a President and he doesn’t know how to handle it.
He supposedly loved the rallies. It fed his ego, no doubt.
He will still get the adoration from his fans. There will probably be daily press conferences by him since he will need to feed his narcissistic personality disorder somehow.
I’m offended that both potus and flotus had to even be in the same room with those two. Let alone act gracious to them. The trumps are not worthy to lick the Obama’s boots. I couldn’t love our first couple any more for their class. Here’s to a peaceful transition of power. Natives survived, though barely, president Jackson. I and my children are a living breathing reminder. We will prevail.
Barack and Michelle are the very essence of class, grace, and duty. I could not be more proud of their time in the White House. It must be incredibly painful for them to see this orange POS get elected, knowing he’ll do everything he can to destroy the legacy they painstakingly built. Barack knows the importance of a peaceful transition of power supersedes the grievances he has with trump. The orange POS would never and could never be this professional and classy.
Didnt President Obama say (in a joking way, but it will probably turn out true) that they will even dig up Michelle’s vegetable garden, agh! These two are so the opposite of the classy Obama’s, it is just awful to think of them in the whitehouse, how and why did this have to happen, mind still boggles.
I’ve heard Donald has Melania’s nude photos hanging up as “art.” Would love to see them hanging on the walls of the Whore House.
I think the rumors that Donald Trump wanted to lose are true, so that he can do this Trump news TV show thing.
This is a funny narrative the left is pushing because it makes Hillary Clinton look like an absolute loser. She spent literally twice the amount of campaign money as her opponent, an opponent that didn’t even want to win…and she STILL lost. What. A. Loser.
And Trump benefited from billion of dollars of free media coverage and no scrutiny by our so called responsible press. Hillary’s not the loser. All socially and morally conscious people who care about their country and one another are the losers.
That’s what a Trumpista troll would say. Do you think anyone here takes you seriously?
She should have spent every single day garnering media headlines, by saying outrageous things to wash over the real issues that voters deserved to know. Like tax returns, lawsuits, etc. Oh, and policy plans. Like her opponent, right?
@Erika, since we’re now discussing “narratives,” can we discuss some the right, specifically Trump, are pushing? I really would like your explanation as to why his written proposals differ so very much from his spoken promises? Specifically, during the debates, he repeatedly said he was going to give EVERYONE a tax cut, I think I’m part of EVERYONE, yet in his written proposal, I would only get a tax cut, a very tiny useless tax cut, if I had a child under 18. I don’t. So, in writing, he doesn’t plan to give me a tax cut. Did he lie to me, Erika? Next issue in his narrative, he has repeatedly claimed that his health care proposals will protect coverage for those of us with pre-existing conditions, but his written proposal repeals the statutory protections for those of us with pre-existing conditions and he offers no alternative. No, medical savings accounts (a quick way to bankruptcy), buying across borders (ridiculous), and tort reform (yes, let’s help the malpractice insurers at the expense of injured patients) do not protect coverage for those of us with pre-existing conditions. Was he lying again, Erika? Or was this just another narrative to trick you into voting for him? I really would like these questions answered.
I wonder how many trump voters will wear their sheets to the inauguration.
He lost the popular vote by a lot and won the election. We should have a revolution in this country!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 7, 2012
The phoney electoral college made a laughing stock out of our nation. The loser one!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 7, 2012
Erika?
Oh SusanneToo, glad you haven’t lost your sense of humour at this awful time.
@ LP. I hope you’re not holding your breath waiting for a reply from her. I doubt any will be forthcoming.
@ Annetommy. There’s probably a run on Clorox and OxyClean right now.
Erika, you’re already the loser you just don’t know it yet.
Unfortunately so are millions of people in the US, regardless of whether they voted Trump or not, but in other countries too. The US is still the most powerful country and the effects of its policies are felt worldwide.
Despite getting the popular vote? Right.
Do you remember the 2000 election Erica? Al Gore lost to Bush despite getting the popular vote.
There were comments that Bush had stolen the election. A protester at the inauguration held up a sign saying “hail to the thief”
@Erika, you’ve now had plenty of time to check Trump’s written policy proposals. I am still waiting for answers. Did he lie when he verbally claimed he plans to cut my taxes? Did he lie when he verbally claimed that his health care proposal will protect people like me with pre-existing conditions? If not, please show me where his written proposals include these measures?
You are a joke.
No Erika, it’s because T-Rump (because he’s no better than a gangster assh*le) managed to tap into the undercurrent of racism, misogyny and feudal mentality that still runs rampant through Republican ranks. That’s all. Hillary is a brilliant and experienced person, but all these T-Rump Duck Dynasty worshippers can see is “she’s just a bitchy woman”, they have no appreciation for her history of working for the people and intelligent handling of world affairs.
The only losers in this mess are the rest of the world, especially those of us stuck in this country. This man has been elected Leader of the Free World and he looks like he has a frog in his throat. His narcissism is out of this world but even he knows he’s in too deep.
Erica=TrumPet
Completely irrelevant Troll, you all should ignore her, it isn’t worthy.
@ Harper
+100
Absolutely agree.
Trump looks terrified, overwhelmed and tired allready. Somewhere i think it might really be true that he can’t read. And now he is thinking: how in gods name am i gonna do this??’
He is going to dredge up the worst possible pieces of shit from that swamp he’s “gonna drain” to do it for him. Giuliani, Christie, Sessions, Palin, Carsons, among others. That’s how.
That’s exactly what he’s going to do. Ugh! Hopefully he can (health wise) make it for 4 years because Pence is truly more scary!
We can’t forget Bannon, he’s probably the worst of them all. I’m willing to bet Bannon plays a major roll in the trump administration, with or without an official title. That should really scare the sh!t out of everyone.
@ Ellie66, i thought the same, Pence is the one all sane People should worry about, he is the Puppetmaster….
“Somewhere i think it might really be true that he can’t read.”
So that long speech he made at the RNC was all done from memory? Wow, that’s impressive. A genius-level feat, actually.
Well a lot of his famous “Build a Wall” speech WAS riffing and off-the-cuff and I’m surprised you wouldn’t know that about someone you’re so obsessed with, Erika. Your Frankenstein Monster would be very disappointed in you…tsk tsk..
Trump read Coulter’s book “Adios: America” in the weeks before he went onstage and ripped a lot of the material from that. His campaign people had actually written a fairly moderate speech for him. He then made the impetuous decision to largely deviated from that speech in favor of anti-immigration rhetoric.
His RNC speech was just repeating talking points of the same shit he’s been spewing since day one. Hardly “genius” material, just the same old redundant garbage meant to energize his base through fear-mongering.
Erika, serious question here…
What broke inside you to so thoroughly identify with such a hateful figure? Was some part of your childhood so lacking in love? Are your torn apart inside by your own failures as an adult? Did you grow up thinking, “Why don’t I have what s/he has?” Were you mercilessly bullied in school?
Best of luck to you. I’m sorry for the bad things that have happened to you. I hope you begin the road to personal growth and recover what you lost somewhere along the way .
There you are Erika…some questions for you above.
Or maybe she’s part of that group that won’t be hurt at all by the disaster of a trump presidency. I’m part of that group myself, but the difference here is that I have a conscience and a soul and I care about the people who will suffer.
Like his bizarre answers in the debate? He was all over the place.
Erika, another question for you – do you blame others, like immigrants for example just like other Trump supporters, for your personal situation or how you perceive it? Lack of education, opportunities, your own insecurities, are projected onto other people?
Are personal attacks necessary?
I’m genuinely asking why a woman particularly would vote for Trump, a populist candidate who has used racist, sexist, and bigoted rhetoric throughout his whole campaign.
Populist politicians will use simplifying tactics and feed on people’s insecurities to engage supporters.
People ignore the TrumPet Erica it’s only a completely irrelevant Troll, don’t feed it.
Ignore.
You can’t have a proper conversation with delusional Trolls.
Melania and Donald would have divorced next year if he wouldn’t have won.
I thought that also. Now she has 4 more years before that happens.
She’s probably hoping that having to do the grueling job of being the US president for four years will kill him off.
Pence will run this whole show – which is terrifying – because Trump knows nothing about politics.
Pence is a terrible human being. But I have to disagree with some of the statements I read that Pence is worse than Trump.
Donald Trump is a dangerously unhinged man who now occupies the most powerful office in the world. Right now our biggest threat is our next president. The best thing for us and the world is for Trump to quit. Pence may have terrible idea, but we’ve dealt with someone like him before. And I’m not worried about Mike Pence having the nuclear codes.
I think it’s a toss up. I don’t think Donald really believes gay marriage should be outlawed and that young people can be cured with conversion therapy. I also don’t think he cares that much about abortion. I think that was all pandering to his crazed supporters. I knew a lot of people that bought the whole “Hillary will allow for abortions up to 36 weeks” bull. These people are not too bright and extremely religious, but you’d be surprised how many people bought into those edited Planned Parenthood videos and truly believe they chop up babies and such.
Trump has given statements in the past indicating that he is not as extreme on these issues as he was willing to let his most nutball supporters believe. I don’t believe Trump respects women, but more in that he sees them as T and A or sexual objects, not that he wants to control their reproductive system. I don’t think the man would have done business in Manhattan if he was truly anti LGBTQ. I think that was all rhetoric to appease his followers.
Now unlike Pence, I think Donald is truly Putin’s puppet and that he will take revenge on anyone who gets under his thin orange skin.
Paul Ryan will be running the show. Paul Ryan controls what gets through Congress and lands on Trump’s desk. Paul Ryan is worse than Trump and Pence combined.
But again I have to ask, how is Ryan worse than Trump?
We have to stop think that there are worst people than Trump. NO ONE is worse than Trump. He is dangerous, unstable and unpredictable. And HE HAS THE NUKE CODES.
I honestly don’t think it has to be a contest.
They’re all equally awful in different ways. No need to compare. It’s ok to say that they’re all terrifying.
Yes, Trump is dangerous, unstable, and unpredictable. While Ryan is dangerous and stable and secretive and evil. Together, they are a partnership straight from Hell.
And I’m not saying this to prop up Trump or infer that we are better with him than with Pence or Ryan. We aren’t. The three of them together are working to destroy everything that is good, decent, ethical, and moral about this nation.
Trump has the nuke codes and has a short temper and a reputation for holding grudges. He is also in Putin’s pocket. Paul Ryan want’s to control a woman’s reproductive system, make gay marriage illegal and get rid of social programs to help the disenfranchised.
Like Kitten said, let’s not make this a contest.
Pence, Ryan and McConnell working together on the domestic front scare the living crap out of me. Trump acting as commander-in-chief and having a direct line to other world leaders give me nightmares.
Pressed further about his health … or his F*CKING TAXES!! how could people elect a man who refused to release them and bragged about not paying for 20 years while out of the other side of his mouth, saying hilary and her wall street friends were crooked and slagging off big businesses etc.
I just can’t!!
He will have to release them every year of his administration now.
yet we’ll find he won’t. He just won’t do it.
Interesting! How does that work? Will it only be that fiscal year’s taxes, or will they have access to all of his tax records? How do they ensure he releases them? Or will there be some way he’ll be able to get out of it?
No law requires presidential candidates to release their tax returns. Like all other citizens, U.S. presidents have protection of their privacy. Individual income tax returns — including those of public figures — are private information, protected by law from unauthorized disclosure. The IRS is barred from releasing any taxpayer information whatsoever, except to authorized agencies and individuals. Highly unlikely trump will ever release them.
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/history-mandates-presidential-candidates
Lindy, exactly how come the media hasn’t brought up the issue of his taxes?
Clinton has been dragged about everything else and he still hasn’t released his tax returns.
The reality is starting to sink in for Donald Trump. He liked the rough and tumble aspect of becoming the nominee and the resulting election campaign. But I would bet when he walked in the doors of the White House he had a “F*#%, what did I get myself into” moment.
I personally can’t wait for President Obama to write a book about his years in office and his thoughts about when he heard Donald Trump won the election.
That will be a good read!
I haven’t menaged to read all of your comments.
But as an Italian I KNOW exactly how all of you are feeling.
It was an awful déjavu for me: the Hillary campain, the media going crazy…the same thing happened to us with Berlusconi: media,tv, internet (in his final years, at the begininning no internet) actors making fun of him, and making him stronger at the same time. Remember if you make fun of him you make him stronger: I know he is ridiculus, but people will think they are moking him because he is “the new one” the one who is not a politician and who is trying to change things.
I still think America is a great country…but jeeez WTH ???!!!!!!!!!!!!
How is Italy doing these days?
Honestly I don’t know, I live in France since 2015, so Berlusconi was still around.
I have never appreciated our current Prime Minister, I think he doesn’t have ideas, or a program…but from this perspective I think our PR is a bit better, at least we do not have a 70yo orange multibillionaire old fool representing us in international meeting. That’s an improvement….
Sorry 2010 !
The look on Trump’s face is priceless. You can tell he just realized he is going to have to work.
Work and halfway pay attention for more than six seconds. The horror! 😀
Hey, why isn’t he orange in these pics?
Something may be wrong with your monitor. He is bright orange on mine.
He still is orange.
He’s more baked ham than cheeto-esque on mine
LOLOL
His level and degree of orange varies from time to time. =)
The man-spreading in these pictures is hilarious.
The first thing that came to my mind when he won was: civil war
This were my thoughts if he’d lost, actually.
Stand by, you’re getting one anyway, fascist nation.
He is in for a nightmare of a ride.
come on, there’s nothing substantial to start a civil war.
At some point, the oppressed will tire of the oppressor and throw off the shackles and chains. I know several people who think that a civil war could occur, because honestly, folks are just sick and tired of having to put up with the same old bullshit from bigots.
I agree it won’t start of civil war, that’s a bit dramatic. It will start/energize a resistance and a movement. I’m thinking it’s going to be similar to the George W Bush era of protests and liberal progressive reinvention.
His fans were calling for a civil war against the rigged system. Many people were quoted in newspapers about spilling blood had he lost – a coup, etc. His fans were the armed militants, the guns nuts and Police Officers around the country – they would have caused a lot of problems had Hillary won.
You comments were funny Kaiser but Obama looked more tired imo and Trumps comments were better than expected.
Do you really expect that Obama would look radiant in the face of the guy who tried to discredit him for years?
And I’m sorry but this call by the GOP for unity is priceless considering they’ve done everything in their power to obstruct the government and divide and this country for the past eight years. F$^k them.
Don’t expect trumpsters to have any sense of irony. Or decency.
@ Esmom. In total agreement. Right now, we’re all sad and in disbelief. But we need to regroup and turn our sadness into anger and our anger into action. There’s a lot of work to be done to right this ship.
I say the protests should continue and grow and I have no intention of unifying with those asshots. They can all go kiss off.
@ Esmom. In total agreement. Right now, we’re all sad and in disbelief. But we need to regroup and turn our sadness into anger and our anger into action. There’s a lot of work to be done to right this ship.
I say the protests should continue and grow and I have no intention of unifying with those asshots. They can all go kiss off.
What Esmom and everyone else said.
“The future rewards those who press on. With patient and firm determination, I’m going to press on… I don’t have time to feel sorry for myself. I don’t have time to complain. I’m going to press on. Take off your bedroom slippers. Put on your marching shoes. Shake it off. Stop complaining. Stop grumbling. Stop crying. We are going to press on. We have work to do.”
– President Barack Obama
No, of course I do not expect Obama look happy, I was just comparing him to Trump since I do not think Trump looks really tired. People are reading into a bit too much regarding how he look imo.
These people do not have a conscience – that a normal person would recognize. They are held in thrall to A God who demonstrates in their own religious records, that the means justify the end. They expect that this God will give heaven and riches to them, for their sacrifices to His Cause. I grew up in a cult, the Mormon one, and this is their story. Their conscience has been seared, as with a branding iron.
Do we teach our young of the historical efforts of women to secure a voice, in a world where they are cursed by God, “your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you” (Gen 3:16)? White men voted for Trump, because they feel emasculated – and the women who voted with them, are those condemned to let their husband rule over them.
This is a religious war, in my opinion…
How do you fight someone who believes – – “God” is on their side? They are no longer, rational.
If you haven’t watched Colbert’s monologues for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights, please do so. He expresses exactly what we’re feeling.
I was just coming here to post that. Colbert is doing great work.
I need a sexy cat ears headband
His supporters have been handed a mandate.
http://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2016-11-10/after-donald-trumps-election-racist-outbursts-in-us
I want to thank President and Mrs Obama for working hard and diligently for our country and the world these past eight years. I am thankful that I was able to vote for an intelligent, caring individual who put the interests and needs of ALL the people he governed, first and foremost. Thank you for showing such class and dignity in the face of extreme resistance and hatred. I know it will be difficult to watch as all your hard work and effort will be systematically destroyed by all those who vilified and worked against you. But you taught us all to “go high, when they go low.”
You, Michelle, Malia and Sasha will be sorely missed.
I keep seeing stuff on fb about people asking Michelle Obama to run in 2020…she would be an amazing president!!! But President Obama has said repeatedly she doesn’t like politics (and who can blame her). I will miss this family so much…someone said can you picture Donald giving speeches for national tragedies like The Orlando shootings compared to President Obama’s??? No, no I cannot. His eloquence and compassion for victims and families was so healing for our country. Still can’t believe he got in there.
Lovely post.
Thanks!!! I showed my kids Michelle’s speech at the DNC after some things they heard about Trump at school. (I didn’t show them the one she gave after the Billy Bush tape, they are 9 and 6). They watched her speech and said Mom, she would be such a great president!!! She seems really smart and really nice too!!! I’m like, I know, I know. Maybe she will want some sort of public office again after a little time out of the spotlight. She would also be an awesome Supreme Court justice.
1) I truly believe Melania is sly, and not fully supportive of Trump’s policies. The Rick Roll, some of her comments, her on-line bullying project… She’s a clever one to watch.
2) Obama acted like he’s totally checking out. Ready to pass it all off to Trump: you got what you wanted.
3) Has Trump ever looked so out of his league?
4) Don’t boo, WRITE. Write to your Congressmen. Tell them everything you’ve been saying on this site. Your disgust, your fears, your expectations. The vote is only one way to be heard.
And copy Paul Ryan on each and every message you send to your own representatives. Let that evil troll know that he and Trump do not have the “mandate” he claims he has to rip apart our country’s programs.
Yes. But also remember – the staff in the DC offices treat snail mail much more seriously than email. So, do both to be really effective!
Yes, this is true. They must keep a log of every letter and they must respond within a statutorily specified time period.
And let’s start working on the mid-terms. Seriously there are a lot of really smart people on her – we should organize!
Thats Trumps ‘Boris Brexit face’ right there…..sh*t now I have to actually do something, congrats d*ckhead, take care of that blood pressure cause I’m not sure having Pence in charge is a good idea.
God I’d love to scream in his face and kick him in the nuts.
Ps. On behalf of the UK I’d like to apologies for Farage and his ongoing bullsh*t
@CarrieUK
I am with you that last photo is that smug face he always has that I want to punch. A guy at work voted for him and I have yet to look in his direction since Wed. A smart guy but he thinks oh do you think every person in these small towns is sexist racist?? I looked at his round white face and said yeah I do. I thought I have to try to move on or I will go nuts. The only thing I can think of as he can’t make a decision on his own. But he does look like what the hell have I done 🙂
Agree that the last picture he looks smug. It looks like, “I hear you, but I’m not really listening to what you have to say.”
HA! Boris’ Brexit face was one of the most hilarious things I’d ever seen. That and when Nigel Farage backed down from the £350,000 claim.
This!!! The proverbial has hit the fan.
What some of us fail to understand is that his supporters expect him to comply with all his promises. His supporters want Hillary locked up. They want a wall and mass deportations. They want Obamacare repealed. They want everything President Obama did in the past 8 years undone. If Trump does not deliver, they will feel betrayed.
See, Mr. Rice and I continue to debate on these matters. I think he won’t do any of those things, except probably repeal Obamacare, while hubby thinks that he will have to in order to keep favourability with his base.
Does anyone think he will want to run again in 2020?
He does not seem to be gloating or happy. He looks like he’s already been through eight years of this very tough job.
The sooner they feel betrayed, the better. They need to realize what THEY have done. I’m doing my part by pointing out his spoken lies about tax cuts for everyone and his pledge to protect those of us with pre-existing health conditions. His written policy positions do neither.
No, I know that is what they expect.
That is why they are morons. Because he is going to let them down.
Paul Ryan and congress will run the country now.
Paul Ryan and congress will ruin the country now.
They also want him to magically create US manufacturing and coal jobs.
This is an honest question? Do they not realize that would just raise the prices of things? Do they not watch Shark Tank? Or understand business. Trump surely does, which is why his products are made overseas!
Point of order here… That is exactly what they think. So let’s break that down, shall we? Those factories have not been recently shut down and moved offshore… It’s been happening for decades. That workforce and those tradesmen? Does someone think they have just sitting around in a state of stasis? They aged out.
The trades are dying in the U.S. And there is no one around to literally take up the mantle. Which means you couldn’t go out and open a factory tomorrow in every state. The skill set isn’t there for full manufacturing. How long do you think it takes to train? Who will do the training? And in the mean time, prices go up because of the tariffs he says he is going to impose. That means scarcity.
So without a true, specific, detailed plain, it will take DECADES to restart manufacturing here.
A really ignorant lady I went to school with was really fired up about athletes not standing for the anthem. Telling them to get the hell out etc. She also called BLM protesters animals etc.
She posted a picture of her and her daughter at the polling place saying teaching my daughter the importance of voting, go trump, build that wall! This was another white lady in PA who helped Trump.
But what we also fail to understand is that his fans rationalize and deflect everything T related. He won’t build a wall, will come up with an excuse and his fans will be ok with it. He won’t lock Hillary up (because she’s actually not committed a crime) but he will tell the masses some BS reason as to why he can’t and they will be ok with it. And on and on it goes.
Lolo816f, yes you are right! I’ve already heard loud complaints from his far right supporters that Trump was too cordial and deferential to Obama at their first White House meeting. Yep, already clogging up talk radio here inGA that they fully expect Obamacare to be repealed, not adjusted or overhauled but repealed, they want to see construction on the wall asap and they fully expect and demand an independent prosecutor to investigate HRC, her emails and the Clinton foundation. The deplorables may be the first to truly riot if they don’t get what they want.
Trump looks like he realizes that his bluff has been called and people will see the REAL Trump, the orange balloon full of empty rhetoric, grandiose pronouncements and hot air. Plus, I wonder how long it would take for him to spill confidential security matters?
Honest question: What’s going to happen with all those women he planned to sue, his fraud case, alleged rape case and tax return debacle? Will they fade away because he will be POTUS (Still can’t say that without my stomach churning at the thought).
Read that the woman with the rape case backed down because she was getting death threats. I wonder if he can truly separate his private life from his public life. Is he willing to do things that might impact his businesses negatively?
Death threats? Where did you read that? Would appreciate being pointed somewhere to be informed on the matter
Honestly can’t remember where. Trying to find it now.
I read that on the Washington Post website in an article that broke down the lawsuits NY state is pursuing.
I was walking through my office building lobby and caught a bit of this on the television, and out of everything that has happened, this is the one that almost broke me. I really thought I was going to have to hide in the ladies room until I could get myself under control.
The thought of our beautiful first family having to welcome the cheeto fascist and his Stepford wife into the White House and be civil to the man who has spent the last eight years stoking the fires of racial hatred by pounding the idea that Obama was a Kenyan Muslim was almost too much to bear. And then he has the f**king GALL to tell the press what a great guy Obama was, like none of it is burned into people’s memories.
Once a liar, always a liar. But his low info cultists don’t care. Wonder how they’ll feel when those manufacturing jobs don’t return. Find a way to blame it on the Democrats, the Muslims, the LBGTs, the A-As, the Mexican-Americans, the Others, somehow, I guess.
Trump definitely has that Chris Christie “WTF?” look on his face. He doesn’t look healthy, either. I don’t suppose there’s any chance that someone, one of his handlers, maybe, can talk him out of his ridiculous hairstyle?
I know I’m just repeating what everyone else is saying, but Trump looks terrified! As he should be. This was nothing but a big game to stroke his giant ego and boost his public profile even more. As someone said above, he didn’t really want to win, he just didn’t want to lose. Now reality is setting in, and the “holy sh*t, I actually have to do this job now” look of terror is all over his face. Oh to have been a fly on the wall during their meeting!
I am terrified, but what I see from him is smugness. Unbelievable, punch in the nose smugness, like saying “I can afford to be gracious now ” – not that he knows the meaning of the word. I must not be seeing what you are seeing at all.
And no, he won’t bring manufacturing jobs back BUT he will give free rein to coal and oil companies so some jobs will return, at the expense of the planet. He and his crew will scream loudly about this every day while ignoring that we are getting closer to extinction every day. And he will allow Pence and the rest of his unholy gang to take away gay rights, women’s rights, and anything else because even if he privately is for them, or is indifferent, his rich family will never suffer from any horrendous law the reps pass.
If Ivanka wants an abortion do you think she can’t fly to Europe on a private jet to have it? Her kids will be in private top NY schools, and they will never worry about poor classrooms, a lack of funding (hey, if they don’t pay taxes it is not his kids or grandkids suffering). They don’t need Medicare or Social Security, all they care about is filling their pockets.
So – one of the most effective protests you can stage is against his brand and the businesses of his supporters. I know sometimes that is hard, if the only grocery in town is run by a racist, or homophobe or anti-choice proponent – you can’t go without. But make a choice where you can. I know I won’t go into Home Depot anymore, I have other choices. I absolutely refuse to give my money to one of his biggest supporters.
Is anyone else just really angry? I am pissed off all the time because of this. It’s starting to really affect me mentally, to the point that I’m waking up angry in the middle of the night.
Not angry yet. Still stunned and sick. I haven’t been able to watch Hillary’s concession speech, I am just so sorry for her.
Please watch it. She embodies dignity and she sends a message to young girls.
Her speech was WONDERFUL. I hope when you feel better about things you will be able to watch.
Take heart, Hillary is back home recovering from this debacle. Someone encountered her and Bill out walking their dogs in the woods and it was great. She will be forever admired by many and she worked hard for human rights. Goodness will prevail eventually but these next few years will be tough to watch.
We need to utilize the First Amendment and get this country back on track. I’m not saying we need Democrats in charge either, there are some respectable Republicans out there and if one of them had one in this election, it would have been an easier pill to swallow. Instead, we have someone woefully ill-prepared who does not have the temperament to be in this powerful position.
edit “one” to “won”
That was me yesterday — I delayed watching it for about 4 hours.
I agree w/ everyone who posted that it was moving and inspirational.
I’m really angry. On one hand I am SO burnt out on politics after this stressful, anxious election. On the other hand, I cannot stop obsessing about what happened Tuesday night.
I think the hardest part for me is feeling betrayed by women or should I say, WHITE women.
Never ever again will I entertain posters who get offended when people invoke the term “white feminism”. One of my closest friends is half Puerto Rican/half Chinese and she is SO angry that whites would vote this shit stain into office.
Yesterday my mom sent me a shocked email about the large percentage of white women who voted for this turd followed by the conclusion that “their husbands must have told them to do it” and I lost my shit. NO. I’m not letting white women off the hook for this one.
These self-interested women won’t GAF until Trump’s policies directly affect them and the ones they love and I will be here saying “I told you so”.
Yes, you are correct. Women didn’t vote for HRC like they did POTUS. I suppose you were also betrayed by minorities. They didn’t turn out like they did for Obama. Compared to Obama she underperformed. Which is interesting. In exit polling (which you have to take with a grain of salt) only 28% said they were happy with the direction the country was going in. I think that says a lot.
Do you feel as betrayed by people of color who didn’t vote as you do by white women who did?
Only 4% of the black women who voted, voted for Trump.
Voter turnout in general was abysmal. But neither of those factors negate my original point.
I don’t think my comment really warrants the additional questions but ok, since I don’t really mind pointing out the obvious..
White women are hardly disenfranchised, when compared with their minority counterparts. Voting for a notorious misogynist who actively works to deny women female bodily autonomy, who has admitted to sexually assaulting women, who has fired women from his various venues because they weren’t pretty enough, who believes women do not belong in a workplace, who has referred to his own daughter as a “piece of ass”, who was accused of raping a 13-year-old girl doesn’t give a flying f*ck about women.
So yeah I DO have a problem with privileged suburban white women voting for this monster. As I said, they won’t GAF until it directly affects them.
I think the lower turnout had a lot to do with the whole “they both suck” narrative that was being pushed. I’m angry with a lot of ignorant white women who helped that idiot win my state oh and the few minorities I know who voted for him did so because “he would make people respect the police again.” So yes trolls, I’m angry with them too.
You avoided answering my question by doublimg down on your original assertion.
Are you as BETRAYED by people of color not voting as you are by white women who voted for Trump?
And asking uncomfortable questions doesn’t make someone a troll.
@Observing-No I’m not upset. I can handle the 4% of black women who voted for him just like I can handle the fact that my friend’s Chinese mom who lives in the projects and depends on food stamps and Medicaid voted for him.
Why?
Because her every day life is a struggle. Because she lives with severe damage caused by years of heroin abuse. Because she believes that someone, anyone who promises to save her and improve her life will actually be able to do that. Because she is DESPERATE as f*ck and doesn’t have the luxury of voting for a “political outsider”, she just wants someone to improve her quality of life..
And she believes this asshole because she feels hopeless.
Do I REALLY have to explain to you how that’s a bit different than Patty Anne, who drives an SUV and lives a cushy life in white suburbia? Patty Ann is upset that Hillary stood by her cheating husband so she doesn’t deserve to be POTUS. She likes Trump because he seems to care about the white people like herself and her husband. She likes Trump because he’s just like her and they want to “make American great again” by getting rid of brown faces. Feeling left out is not the same as being “disenfranchised”, not even close. My friend’s mom is disenfranchised. These white middle-class educated women have had every opportunity in the f*cking world.
Do you get it now? I sure hope so because I’m done with you Trumpets.
Women of color turned out for Clinton in the highest number of any voting block. White suburban women lost this election for Clinton. They voted 66% for Trump.
White women liberals have some work to do with their conservative sisters.
I’m with you, really angry about suburban white women voting out of their privilege. It seems like privileged white women hate all other women.
I love your passion, Kitten. Thanks for all your responses.
Just this morning I began to experience bouts of anger and tears. Bringing the kids to school, heard The Call’s “The Walls Came Down” and I flipped like a switch. Since Tuesday evening, when I read the handwriting on the wall around 9pm, I was numb, and wanting only to put my head in the sand by rationalizing that his long term democratic leanings could have some influence on his responses and actions- at that time Peter Gabriel/Kate Bush’s “Don’t Give Up” was in my head.
I can’t yet read HP or any other liberal sites because it just hurts my head too much. I’m not sure how to navigate all of this, but i am heartened to hear of the protests – at the same time horrified by the prospect of long term governance by Pence (Trump looks seriously unwell to me, and I am expecting him to have some acute health issues sooner than later).
For me the sanest thing is to step away from the news (which I had done for months now) and not watch anything T related (I refuse to type his name or call his president or president elect). Distance helps – I will engage again the future because I am bloody furious and will work hard to elect more democrats during the mid-terms. And of coarse from now on POTUS stands for Pr*ck of the US.
Trump can’t do this job. He’ll manage the Presidency like a CEO, delegate responsibility to everyone else. Unfortunately, for the country, the people he puts in charge will do serious damage. I saw a comment yesterday, that the last time the GOP had total control of government (White House, Senate and the House) was in 1928. And we all know that in 1929, the Great Depression happened.
A friend’s conspiracy theory is that Ryan, McConnell and Pence will set him up some how, impeach him and then install Pence as President.
I have long had that theory. Ryan wanted to oust him before the convention by changing the rules but realized his own party’s delegates would riot. The second Trump gets on Ryan’s bad side, he’ll start investigations and impeachment proceedings but he’ll use Trump for the first few months to accomplish his own goals like ending health care coverage for millions of Americans and starting the movement to privatize Social Security, turn Medicare into a lousy voucher program that covers nothing, and ending Medicaid.
Impeach him? For what? He has to be given the chance to govern first, commit treason or another act against his Oath, in order for him to be impeached.
This is ludicrous. Then again, with the crap and foul play that goes on behind the scenes in Washington and through out the world, one never knows I guess.
If Trump could get in, why shouldn’t Kanye be able to. American History has been made. Our 45th President is the very first President-Elect about to become our 45th POTUS who had no past experience in Public Service or as a Politician at any level.
He is and was soley an Entrepenuer Billionare Businessman already in the top 1%. So, because of the money Kanye makes- he also is in the top 1% and is an Entertainer. Hell, both Eastwood and Ahnold attained Political Office, as well as former President Reagan. ( at least Reagan had his service as Gov of Cal)
My only point is- apparently- America no longer cares if any future candidates are non-conventional candidates or “outside the establishment”. I think that is great!
Trump can’t do this job. He’ll manage the Presidency like a CEO, delegate responsibility to everyone else. Unfortunately, for the country, the people he puts in charge will do serious damage. I saw a comment yesterday, that the last time the GOP had total control of government (White House, Senate and the House) was in 1928. And we all know that in 1929, the Great Depression happened.
A friend’s conspiracy theory is that Ryan, McConnell and Pence will set him up some how, impeach him and then install Pence as President.
Trump will destroy a lot of important things. I already feel sorry for the next president (2020) ^^
But Kanye’s going to run in 2020 – so we’ll go from the frying pan into the fire! 😉
I really don’t know who would be worse – Trump or Kanye.
Michelle 2020. Though I doubt she’d ever want to re-enter the WH after it’s been desecrated by the trump vulgarians leaving large orange stains everywhere.
I wish she would run for president but Obama said she isn’t really interested in politics.
Well, sadly she is probably going to have more than a few reasons to become infuriated in the next four years so maybe.
Don’t worry, Lisa Simpson is going to do a great job.
@ilsalund you’re absolutely right, people are deluded of they think all this hateful bigotry is from poor, uneducated, Southerners. My FB feed and neighborhood are full of upper middle class professionals who came out in droves to support Trump. The type of people who don’t consider themselves racist but believe in their own supremacy.
Exactly. They think they’re hiding it from people (most of all themselves) but they’re not hiding it from anyone -we see them and we know what they are.
On top of this American Tragedy, Leonard Cohen died yesterday evening. Please listen to his latest album. It’s great. You just know he was sensing the end.
I don’t think he realized that he was wnning the prize of America’s Public Servant, because that’s what he is now.
I have been devastated since Tuesday night but seeing this meeting I became terrified. He’s always been nothing but a coward and next to the true confidence of Obama or became even more obvious.
US enemies must feel so emboldened looking at what is passing as leadership now. I hope the destruction in the wake of the next four years is not too great.
Trump will do anything Putin wants.
That Obama had to welcome this orange-puckered-a$$hole to the White House is an abomination. Obama will be my forever POTUS. Never Trump.
I’m taking a new tactic. I’ve contacted my congressmen to start a petition to get rid of the electoral college. It’s antiquated. Other countries elect via the popular vote, there is no reason why the USA can’t. If Trump had won both the electoral votes and the popular vote, it would have been more appropriate albeit still nauseating. We should have learned this the last time it happened.
The 46% of Americans who did not vote in this election should be ashamed of themselves. I am not sure this is true, but a friend of mine said that in Australia people are actually fined if they don’t vote. Can anyone verify this for me?
Trump got what he deserved. America didn’t though. It won’t be long before we see some serious (and possibly illegal) actions during his tenure. But make no mistake, he will indeed rely heavily on his staff because he is woefully unprepared for the tasks at hands. He’ll be much worse than Reagan was (who delegated most things), Trump doesn’t have the attention span to understand much of anything other than shoot out nasty insults, lies, and tweets to incite disgust. This nation is not going to “heal” until this man first apologizes to his country for his behavior during the campaign. I know that won’t happen, so what people should do is rise up, advocate change for the future so that we have a better voting system and start grooming good people to enter the political scene.
Yes, there is compulsory voting in Oz and in a number of countries, including I think Argentina, Brazil and Belgium. I have mixed feelings about it. But the number of eligible voters who didn’t is pretty disgraceful. I was also so disappointed when I read that if less than one per cent of the total number of voters in Pennsylvania and Florida had gone for Hillary, she would have won : 100,000 out of 120,000,000 I think It was. I must stop tormenting myself with this stuff!
Don’t look at the millennial voter map then. It’s a sea of blue. Hillary would’ve won like 500 electoral votes. It’s depressing, but also provides a tiny glimmer of hope for the future.
Now let’s get out there and make it happen!
Re: “Mixed feelings about it”. Yeah, I’m Australian and it doesn’t bother me, but I don’t know that it would be accepted in the US. We see it as a duty, like mandatory jury service. But I think Americans might see it as an infringement on their right not to vote.
And the fines could end up impacting the disadvantaged. If you’re poor, or sick, or illiterate, or a shift-worker it’s just that much harder to vote.
Vava, in Brazil also it is illegal not to vote.
It’s true that there is compulsory voting in Australia – this coming from someone who is probably about to be fined 78 bucks for not getting my postal vote in the mail by the deadline for the local elections. humph. But I do think it’s a great thing. Even if you don’t know who to vote for or don’t care who wins – to have this power is such a privilege when there are people all over the world who don’t have the right to elect their own government. Also, polling here is on a Saturday which is helpful. Meanwhile my heart goes out to the gracious and dignified Obamas for getting though this hideous ordeal and I hope they sank a couple of dirty martinis to take away the taste.
Here’s a question because it’s a thing that’s been bugging me.
There seem to be endless, hours-long queues to vote in the US. Is this a possible factor in low turnouts?
I’m always amazed by the pictures and videos of long, snaking queues of voters in US elections. I’m in the UK and I have never lived more than a five minute walk from my local polling station. I’ve never had more than one person collecting their ballot in front of me when I went to vote. Usually nobody and a couple of bored elections officials sitting at a desk as people trickle in every couple of minutes. I just checked the polling station for my ward (our most basic electoral unit). It covers a population of under 2,000 people and it had three polling stations for the last few elections, open from 7am to 10pm.
Our turnouts aren’t great but they are considerably better than the US – 66.4% for the last general election and 72.2% for the Brexit referendum.
Yes, I wonder about polling stations too! In The Netherlands we have pretty good turnout (74,5% last time, which was the lowest in the last five elections) and there’s a polling station 100 ft from me and another three within 1/4 mile. There’s polling places all over the place and I can vote in whichever one I want to vote. We do have mandatory indentification though and by law everyone over the age of 14 needs to carry an id-card. But they’re not expensive and are valid for five years.
@Sixer, I’m sure it is. You’ll notice that the queues are rarely in comfortable areas. It’s part of the Republicans’ general voter suppression strategies (for the “wrong kind” of voters). Others include unevenly unfair voter ID laws, prevention of former felons voting, and straight-up gerrymandering.
In Australia our turnout is about 94% and the longest queue I’ve experienced was 40 minutes. I was so annoyed that I’ve voted by mail ever since! (Normally the line was only one or two people, but I’m not risking it again.) Most of our schools are polling places. I just looked it up, and there is one polling place in my suburb, population 5,500. Two in the next suburb, population 10,000. So I think we run on a 1:5000 ratio.
The queues are definitely part of what the Americans mean when they talk about voter suppression. Did you read about the legal wrangles over racially biased voter ID and early-voting laws? Queues were also mentioned in a lot of those articles. The allocation of voting machines appears to be biased. They tend to be allocated by Republican controlled boards and somehow the long lines tend to happen in counties that have mainly POC and/or poor people (areas that traditionally vote Democrat).
That said, they do have some issues we don’t have:
1) The machines used aren’t all the same, so even previous voters might suddenly be forced to use a machine they’ve never seen before. Having been stuck behind an elderly person learning how to use self-checkout at the shops, I sincerely hope Australia sticks with paper.
2) They vote directly for a number of laws at the same time as doing their election voting, and the number of propositions they have to vote on depends on where they are. California had 17 propositions to vote on! That must take some time. (I know we only vote directly during a referendum, and they’re rare. You’re the same, right?)
Those factors must make it more difficult to get the allocation of resources right. And if a machine breaks down you’re screwed.
I’ve been thinking about it because I’m also aware things are generally tougher in the US about taking time off work, too. Can everyone even afford to take an entire morning or afternoon off in order to vote?
Tina – I hadn’t really considered it as part of general voter suppression strategies (which reduce the electorate so a low turnout is actually even lower than it appears) but more as useless bureaucracy. But now you point it out…
Yes, Sixer, it most definitely is. And it is deliberate. My colleague’s son lives in Ohio and decided to absentee vote because the polling places are few and far between and the lines are extremely long, especially in urban areas with large minority populations. A cousin just moved back to Massachusetts from Ohio. She regrets that she and her husband didn’t get to influence the Ohio vote but found it much, much easier to get to the polling place and vote once there.
I walk to my polling place and wait in line for them to open the doors. That’s it.
Wow guys. I almost wish I hadn’t asked.
I just looked up our totals – 50,000 polling stations for an electorate of 44 million. So fewer than 900 voters per polling station!
Yes Sixer, it is a pain. Often polling stations are not close to where we work so that means time off work to go stand in line, figure it out, then either go back to work or relieve a sitter for the kids. This year I had friends tell me they didn’t vote because they were truly afraid of being harassed by Drumpf supporters. One of my colleagues, a single mother who is a minority told me she knew how important her vote was but she is the sole breadwinner and parent of a young child. If she got hit by a brick and had to get medical care a. She couldn’t afford the copay, b. She couldn’t afford lost work days and c. Who would take care of her daughter or her? Real consequences of voter suppression from the far right.
Seriously the look on his face since Tuesday night says it all. This man does not want to be President. Why is this not being reported on in the media? He looks baffled, frightened, and like he’s ready to run for the hills.
I wanted to write the same thing. Why are they not talking about it? It’s so obvious that he doesn’t want this job.
Because the media is continuing to not do their job. They are useless.
I respectully disagree. What “look” are you talking about? GIve me a break here. He asked for this, he got it—and if there is any truth to what you are saying—then shame on Trump for even running.
I believe even HE did not think with all of the corruption in Washington that he was going to win the electoral votes. I think it is a look more of shock that he won, more than anything else.
He is assembling his cabinet, and hopefully he MEANT IT, when he said he cares deeply about Americans and our Country. All I ask anyone, is to at least give him a shot. America asked those against Obama’s appointment to give Obama a chance, and America did. His performance alone in office, they way he and our First Lady have handled every tragedy here with dignity, class, and respect- proved all of Obama’s naysayers WRONG. His legacy will never be tarnished by HRC’s service as SOS or anything he said and remarks he made during this shit show of an election.
My family and I are chosing to follow President Obama’s lead. You don’t have to, I am only stating my own personal opinions here. Thanks
I have no idea of what he’s actually thinking but in terms of appearance he doesn’t look confident to me.
trump doesn’t care about America or Americans. He cares only about himself and his bottom line. His entire life shows that. And, no, Obama was not given a chance. For eight years he’s been attacked politically and personally by the same people who voted for trump.
I have no plans to hold hands and sing kumbaya, but I will be tracking every shitty thing that happens because of the travesty of November 8th.
Exactly SusanneToo. Before his inauguration the opposition was already calling Obama the worst President ever so no little T fans you don’t get to ask for harmony now. I am practicing ‘I told you so’ in many languages – lol
“All I ask anyone, is to at least give him a shot. America asked those against Obama’s appointment to give Obama a chance, and America did.”
Really? America gave Obama a chance? You mean all the people who called him Obummer and Odumbo and worse? Or his colleagues in DC who obstructed any and everything they could possibly obstruct? Or the ones who called him a Muslim and demanded his birth certificate? Who was it that said, loudly, “You lie!” during our President’s speech? That lovely Joe Smith from South Carolina if I recollect properly.
Those of us who voted for him and love him gave him a chance. Those who loathed him didn’t skip a beat before trying to drag him down and pull his beautiful family down too.
Don’t put on some mealymouthed act because it is disingenuous and nauseating. You’re not fooling anyone. You’re not.
What kind of therapist should I turn to ? I still don’t believe that Donald Trump is the new POTUS. Tried to fight that by saying “President Trump” and writing it down, but it hasn’t helped. Did you know the real election is next week? I believe Hillary will win and make our lives better.
Loot at his face. He’s so unhappy that he won.
I always tell myself that America will survive the next four years. That it won’t be that horrible. But it’s not working.
Poor Obama, how awkward. Trump looks terrible so uncomfortable too. I can’t imagine what he’s gone look like after 4 years if he looks like this now.
It’s true that journalists didn’t do their job with trump. They treated him almost like a lovable eccentric.
The Obamas are class act!
Is it me or Trump is as shocked as I am he won?!
Can you imagine being cordial to a man who has slandered your name and spread lies about your identity? My God, give Obama another Nobel Peace Prize, he deserves it. I can’t believe this is real, it is utter insanity. Megyn Kelly, a victim of Trump’s malice, has now published a memoir heavily alluding to the fact she was poisoned before the infamous debate. My God. She also implies that Trump was given the opening question to the debate in advance. The lack of integrity in this journalist not disclosing these facts until AFTER the election, when she was receiving a major payday? Mind boggling. On top of all this, Reuters is reporting that the Russian government is now bragging about being in direct contact with the Trump campaign throughout the election. The silver lining in all of this? He is going to crash and burn on a scale that will destroy his life and his legacy. Two years tops before he is removed from office.
Well done to Barack Obama for remaining classy, dignified and welcoming. He will be sorely missed. The Donald managed to conduct himself appropriately too. I wonder how long that will last. he certainly looks shell-shocked. It wouldn’t surprise me if he gets bored soon and decides to stand down.
This site used to be my safe haven for mindless comments about dresses an relationships catered by people with an actual brain.
Since I really really am in some dire need for some escapism I will add this.
His freakin tie really mismatches with his skin tone.
This meeting makes me respect President Obama and First Lady Michelle (because she met with the partner of that person) more, they are class, grace and dignity personified the exact opposite of what is to come. The look on the face of the individual sitting next to President Obama says it all, looks like he’s wondering what he got himself into, he is so in over his head. I don’t believe for one second that his campaign was genuine, right after he announced his run he was asked about potential vp’s and suggested Oprah. This was a con from the get the fact that the state that he lived in all his life and is the headquarters of his business only gave him 10% percent of the vote says a lot. I will never accept this individual as President. This is utterly pathetic.
I guess orange is the new blakc, friggin’ GesTrumpo
The future’s dark, the future’s orange.
Trump looks scared to death. I don’t think even he thought he’d win this election, starting out as an ego trip that he took us on. He grabbed America by the pussy and because he’s famous we let him.
Obama forever! <3
Now you Americans can foot the bill for his orange spray tans ! I wouldn’t worry too much. Trump won’t last one year in office. He’ll claim “health issues” or something…just watch.
On Veterans Day, lets all give our respect and honor all of our US Military Women and Men for their past or present service given.
Also, I voted for Obama twice and will indeed miss him in the White House. I realize many in American are cynical and hurt right now. However, following President Obama’s message of unity and bi-partisan ship along with his committment to a peaceful transfer or power—-can we all follow his lead and please give our new President the chance to govern?
You can personally despise Trump all you want, and those doing so in Public have that Constitutional Right to a PEACEFUL assembly. Destroying, defacing PUBLIC property and blocking highways so hard working people cannot get to work is offensive and wrong. We can protest until now and the cows come home, I respect others rights to do so.
All I am saying, is lets RESPECT and LOVE ONE ANOTHER MORE- and help to bridge the gap of our great divide. I am tired of ALL GOOD AMERICANS! Black, White, Latino, Asian, Christian, Jews, Muslims and even Atheists among us going head to head with hatred in their hearts.
Let’s work together to RESPECT one anothers differences more, and offer dignity and acceptance to all.
Thank you !
GOD BLESS OUR VETERANS AND GOD BLESS THE USA!
Governments govern by the consent of citizens. Trump needs to earn my trust, after his racist and misogynist language in campaigning. I do not acquise to a President who states that he knows he can grab someone by the pussy, without consent. I am not ready to make nice, although I am committed to learning to love Trump voters.
Clinton won the popular vote and Trump cannot waltz in and act like he doesn’t need to address the concerns and needs of all the citizens.
And one more thing, the electoral college is a vestige of slavery, and it needs to go away. Can you imagine how conservatives would be reacting if they had won the popular vote twice since 2000, and lost the Presidency?
Not to mention voter suppresion by the red states of minority and urban voters, which makes the electoral college votes of rural states even more powerful.
@ NGBoston…What a beautiful comment. You have the right idea, my friend.
I attended our annual Veterans’ Day Parade today. I honor the men and women who have truly sacrificed for our country. I honor my father who was a WWII vet-Battle of the Bulge-Purple Heart-career Army, I honor my classmates and friends whose names are on The Wall-the Wall of Honor, not trump’s Wall of Hatred-I grieve that for the first time there was no float of WWII vets included. That’s my Veterans’ Day and it just reinforced how despicable the crass, vulgar, selfish, vengeful sub-human trump is. Sorry, I can’t get onboard with respecting anyone who voted for him.
There’s no better way to honor our troops than by electing a man who who mocks Prisoners of War and Gold Star families. I can’t see how we can show respect for each other/love each other by accepting a man who believes in neither. Destruction of property has happened on both sides, don’t let yourself be fooled. I just wish, from the bottom of my heart, that I could get to the point you’re at. But I look at my friends whose lives are in the process of being destroyed and I just can’t find it in me to do anything but cry.
He really is not looking like a man whose plan has come to fruition.
A Q for American posters: What would happen if Trump, for whatever reason, bailed before the 20th Jan handover? Would Pence automatically become Pres or would it be down to the Republican Party to choose/elect his replacement?
I, as an American, don’t know the answer to that, but it has also been a question on my mind.
Pence would be the President and, I think, the Speaker of the House would be VP.
@Sixer
You said this is what happened after/since Brexit….
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/countless-acts-of-hate-have-been-carried-out-since-trumps-win_us_5825ee38e4b02d21bbc86211
Yes. In some ways, it doesn’t even matter what Trump does now. He could row back on all the stuff he has said and pursue a sensible, if conservative, set of domestic policies. But his campaign has opened Pandora’s Box and the small minority of truly vicious people think they have been given permission to do this. They can cause damage, pain and suffering far in excess of their relative numbers. And, let’s face it, this is potentially worse in the US because GUNS.
Agree.
@LinaLamont – I’m not British but I live in London with Scottish Mr Guesto and that is so not my/our experience of the UK post-Brexit.
And I’m getting really tired of the ‘UK is just as bigoted and hateful as the US’ narrative being pushed on here.
@Guesto
I’m not pushing any narrative. I was just pointing out what’s happening and that the deplorables think they have carte blanche, now.
BTW, I’m sick and tired of hearing how hateful and bigoted the U.S. is. Considering the size and diversity of our population, we have a tremendous number of non-bigoted and non-hateful people. We have a shameful past and a lot of work left to do (as do most nations), but, we have a lot of good people, too. Over 50% of the voters are “with her”.
Guesto
Firstly, I don’t think anybody gets anywhere by saying the US is more racist than the UK or vice versa. It’s not a race to the bottom. The fact is that both countries have racist people and both countries have racist structures. It’s also true that both countries have large numbers of anti-racists who would like to change that.
Secondly, just because you haven’t seen it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Even in London, a fabulously integrated and multicultural city compared to many others. The period covering the referendum campaign and the months following it saw a 60% increase in hate crime. An pro-immigration MP was assassinated by a racist far-right terrorist. A Polish man was murdered by racially-motivated teenagers. This, in a country that sees only about 100 murders by strangers in an entire year. There are countless videos on social media with POC and EU immigrants getting abused on public transport or their homes vandalised. One would hope this would calm down once feelings are less high and reality seeps back in, but these events will still have happened.
Nobody is saying a majority of people are vicious like this in the UK or in the US. But it’s disingenuous to suggest that there’s no correlation or causation between overtly xenophobic or racist political campaigns and spikes in abuse and/or attacks on those perceived as other by the vicious minority. Because there is. And that’s why racist and/or xenophobic political campaigns are so disgusting. Real people get hurt.
Some elements in the UK are just as hateful and bigoted and some elements in the US. That’s what people are saying.
His return to twitter form last night makes me think he views this as the ultimate licensing deal. He has licensed his name to the White House, and will depend on Pence, Bannon, et al to actually execute while he continues to rabble rouse.
And so it begins:
Paul Ryan Says Medicare Privatization Is On
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/11/paul-ryan-says-medicare-privatization-is-on.html
and of course he has to twist the truth to try and justify his lies and rationale for doing this
No way does Trump go with a Ryan plan, he will do his own. Also since older people vote for Republicans, go ahead privatize. Those older people will sh*t their beds and boot them out. They are hypocrites, don’t won’t anyone else receiving government money but when you mess with their government money they will be furious.
What a tragedy. What a disgrace.
Tuesday night was without a doubt one of the worst nights I can remember. Wed everyone I know and all the people at work were walking around like the walking wounded. People were in shock, some were crying outright, tempers were short – it was horrible to say the least.
For 8 years the GOP has whined and moaned and blamed everyone else for their failings. Well, guess what guys, it’s time to put up or shut up. Let’s see what they manage to accomplish.
Woke up Wed morning with the same feeling I woke up with the day after 9/11. This whole week I’ve woke up with ‘dread’ and have even dreamed about the election. The election that will never end.
Same at my work. People looked shaken up and dead in the eyes. It was a sad and strange day.
They would love to impeach the lose cannon and put their guy Pence up to bat.
They will find a way… And I think this is very scary too!
Pence is far more terrifying than Trump. We are in for a world of hurt either way.
Trump and Bernie were candidates for revoluntionary change. America was founded on revolution. The one coming will be the third in its young history. It doesn’t bother me, although it is a frightening concept to some who have forgotten America has embraced it twice before.
haha Trump already backtracking on Obamacare, may want to keep parts of it and only make some amends on it. So they have backtracked on the wall and Obamacare, their 2 big talking points. Swear think this guy has trolled everyone including his supporters.
Ha! Politics as usual. Maybe he’ll turn out to be your garden variety politician after all.
It’s true – I’m in benefits and yesterday I attended a professional meeting about what he was planning to do. Bullet 1 – complete repeal of ACA, Bullets – 2-6 all of the things he was keeping from ACA. Go to h*ll, you don’t get to say you’re repealing, fix a few things with the help of the House/Senate and then get credit for this great legislation that is in essence Obamacare 2.0
Bet they end up pushing through Romneycare, because its the plan still sitting in the house. Which is basically Obamacare. Gives me a headache.
Is it true that Hillary could still become president?
(see New York Post: the-one-scenario-that-could-still-get-hillary-into-the-white-house/
or change.org
Crookedtrump has dumped Crookedchristie. No honor among thieves. Who woulda thunk it?
Oh God, I am laughing so hard! No one went harder for Trump longer than Christie. He’s a crook, just like Trump, but I felt like he was the least of the evil that surround him.
DT looks freaked out, exhausted & kinda like WTF has ever I done?
This is too surreal. I’m actually fighting w/friends & family about it, and I’ve been having on/off sobbing spells since he kinda won.
My poor President Obama, he looks as if he needs to burn his clothes, sterilize his hands and take a nice hot shower after meeting with tRump. I’m still in semi-fetal position and numb right now.
Isabelle, me too! Right after 9/11, I had this dreadful feeling that the sky could literally fall in anytime. I have that same terrified, vulnerable feeling now. It’s like we’re all in free fall, without parachutes. My emotions are back & forth from anger to terror & everything in between. I can’t imagine the disgusting orange stain(literally & figuratively) that will be the result of everything this horrible clown touches.
someone posted a PO Box address for Hillary Clinton and encouraged her supporters to send her a thank you card for her many years of service. writing it has been depressing yet therapeutic…
Hillary Clinton
P.O. Box 5256
New York, NY 10185-5256
I’ve just posted such a card. Has made me feel (a little) better.
The silent majority, that endless swath of ‘fly over’ country, the white suburban middle class we coastal city folk so enjoy rolling our eyes over don’t vote on the social issues we hold dear. Abortion, maybe, for the uber religious but they by the grace of God are still relatively small in number. Otherwise they vote on the economy and foreign affairs. In a failing economy, a businessman looks good. In the midst of endless war, an isolationist looks good. In a corporate held, lobbyist controlled system, a political outsider looks good. If pressed, the majority will vote on cultural values. If pressed. And they are. Allow me to point this out because reading through the comments I’ve the impression most here either don’t know what the middle majority thinks or they just don’t care – and fair enough if you don’t care but understand that this election proves what a grave mistake holier than thou disregard can be. The white middle class majority has been standing around watching its middle class culture erode for some time now. They’re afraid. Theyve had it with social Marxism, they’re fed up with minority rule, they’re tired of catering to the extreme. They dont take kindly to a celebrity bimbo (of either gender) with the audacity to tell them who to vote for. They have and will give up some ground (eg gay marriage), but full on leftist progressivism (eg gender neutrality) is going to be a hard sell with these people. Personally I don’t think you can sell it. Personally I think you’re going to inadvertantly push even the most moderate of them into a right wing conservative position of defense. I KNOW you won’t win them over with a chorus of “f*ck you white people!” That is exactly what they’ve been told you want, exactly what they’ve been told to fear, and if we don’t take a deep breath and and appeal to reason instead, we’ll find ourselves playing right into the hands of a powerful enemy.
Spot on assessment,
Responding to hate, racism and sexism WITH hate, racism and sexism doesn’t make anyone right.
So people are supposed to swallow their hatred, accept them assaulting them and give their rights away to make them feel better? Maybe they might want to look themselves in the mirror and ask themselves why they are so afraid in the first place.
Reason cannot take hold if you fear everything & and everyone.
Well I got my health insurance prospectus for next year and the out of pocket has doubled. I now have to pay slightly more than 10,000. My neighbors adopted Asian children have been bullied at school-told to go back to their rice paddy etc. then shoved around. My other neighbors are afraid to leave home, they are a gay, black couple. Is this the “new” USA? Yes it is, the director of the FBI deliberately threw the election with false email claims, he faces no consequences. Trump lied and lied, stated the election was rigged, turned out it was-in his favor. So the new normal is lack of accountability, hate is okay and oh everyone is an idiot if they don’t cheat on their taxes.
Sorry, I have barely visited Celebitchy since the dismal election results. I am flummoxed and sad. I am deeply concerned about our country being led by Trump, his son-in-law, Jared, and basically the Trump’s family clan.
I am trying my best to stay hopeful. Somehow, maybe, it will be okay. I just don’t know how…
I said on Monday it will all be over wednesday, boy was I ever wrong! I’ve been sad/angry all week…and now my anger turns to the non-voters. I am an American living in Canada who voted and yet 47% of America DID NOT!!!!! This is why we are stuck with Trump. He looks scared to death and as he should be. He is grossly underqualified for this job. A lot of people are saying they can’t imagine him making 4 years— that impeachment or assassination are in his future. Not to mention all the deep seeded racists that have come out and are now spewing hate and committing hate crimes now. Thanks America for sending us back 60 years. 🙁
I agree with the posters up there and the body language expert who said he might be showing signs of fear. He looks scared, worried, and regretful to me. If he’d wanted to win, he’d probably be super smug and gloating over those darn leftie luvvies.
One, the intelligence agencies probably paid him a super early visit to clamp down on the crazy stuff he was saying about not trusting their research and his Russia stance. Two, Trump never wanted to be POTUS and he apparently ran only because he wanted to negotiate a better contract for The Apprentice. He never thought he’d even get past the primaries. Check out that Michael Moore article on this about three months back. Very, very surreal.
where can I find michael moore’s article about he’d wanted to negotiate a better contract for the apprentice?
http://michaelmoore.com/TrumpSabotage/
Here you go.
On a lighter note. ..in the last picture, Trump looks like Joey smelling the fart.
There is this:
https://secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/president_trump_letter_loc/?thDRmab&v=500257858&cl=11072161196_checksum=11e37bae3c97be581be7ba87c578390dd77076fe3868d15003a4ee7243c9d322
Signing that made me feel good.
Trump scares the hell out of me. But I don’t think people are talking enough about the impact his wife’s ascension to FLOTUS has on the girls of this country. This is a woman who has based her entire existence on her looks. She left university to model; she moved to the States to model; she used her looks to snag a much-older, very wealthy man; she’s had multiple plastic surgeries and procedures to maintain some notion of perfection. While I will concede that she appears to be a wonderful mom who doesn’t (as many women in her position would) rely on nannies to do everything for her son, from all accounts, she spends very little time doing anything else. Most high-society Manhattan women are involved in multiple charitable causes, or at least sit on the Boards of organizations to get involved in raising funds. (No, they’re not working at the Food Bank, but they host massive events that raise hundreds of thousands of dollars.) I don’t think Melania does any of that. It frightens me to think that she’ll have such power and influence, that girls will think all they need to do to be successful in life is look pretty and marry a rich man. I’m not saying I need my FLOTUS to be a university-educated lawyer. I just cringe at the thought that she is, in essence, an uninteresting socialite.
They already think that. You have just described Kate Middleton to a T – minus the modeling, part of course, because heaven forbid that she actually have a job of ANY sort.
I have decided that it’s too early to believe in a President Trump (see my comment above).
Obama having to talk to Trump is like Einstein chatting with Simon Cowell. I feel sorry for the poor man.
I feel awful for Obama too. What an insult to be followed by Trump. I know he has to play nice but when he wishes Trump a successful presidency he is saying go ahead and tear down everything I built up over 8 years. Of course, Trump is a serial liar and is backing down on much of what he said already. Anyway, protesters need to continue and they need to catch that murderer in Oregon who actually shot a protester. Democracy is slipping away in America. Why don’t people start playing that “pussy” tape of Donald’s voice being despicable and advocating sexual assault. Pussygate should be uttered every time he appears on tv or anywhere. Lest we forget!!!! Every time I see his smug former porno star wife and elite advantaged kids it makes me sick.
In case you didn’t know:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/safety-pin-trump-brexit_us_58251b53e4b0c4b63b0c11a9
I was just reading about that disgusting people magazine cover celebrating Trump. Not long after one of their former staff members, Natasha Stoynoff told of her story about being sexually assaulted by Trump. What a gut punch in that poor woman’s stomach?! And to other sexual assault survivors.
I remember reading how Jared Kushner’s family weren’t happy about his involvement in the Trump campaign trail.
No amount of fixing and damage control will undo the racist, sexist and xenophobic rhetoric carried out during the Trump campaign trail.
Enjoy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyT7vXdyieM
Michael Moore says the protesters need to protest until Trump resigns. Since everyone has to accept the outcome of a democratic election: Hillary has won.
The USA is not a democracy– it is a republic. The electoral college is in place. Good luck trying to get it changed. I’m not against trying to change it but that’s been suggested multiple times , dies in committee quickly and goes no where.
The outcome of our current process was a Trump win. Everyone may not be able to emotionally accept it but it is constitutionally factual regardless.
Moore is crazy intelligent and I listen to him often for his perspective, On this — he’s just crazy. And wrong.
I’m supportive of anyone’s right to peacefully protest. However violence or destruction of property is criminal and should be prosecuted accordingly.
I wanted to return with a link to an easy read about republic vs democracy and why it is set up constitutionally as it is.
http://www.thisnation.com/question/011.html
Also, if Trump WERE to resign, then the VP-elect becomes president. As abhorrent as many find Trump, when asked — they prefer Trump to Pence due to Pence’s extreme religious right positions on LGBT issues, reproductive rights etc.
I guess he believes Trump’s resignation and the popular vote could convince electoral college members to vote for Hillary.
Sign and pass it along…if you wish
https://www.change.org/p/electoral-college-electors-electoral-college-make-hillary-clinton-president-on-december-19?source_location=discover_feed
http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/11/11/13588048/electoral-college-petition-clinton-trump
@meganm
@linalamont
This explains why THAT is highly unlikely and also thoroughly futile and damned dangerous to boot.
If nothing else, pay attention to the point about conflicting electoral votes by state, Since It would certainly end in conflicting electoral votes by state, then whole thing would wind up in congress to decide……the republican congress.
If nothing else, this is turning into what is a much needed civics lesson.
HRC has conceded and likely would not condone such an activity for all the reasons specified.
@Bonbons
I’m not naive. I have no delusions. I don’t need a lesson in civics. Perhaps, you do, if you think a peaceful protest is futile. I know nothing concrete will come of it in terms of changing the fact that Trump’s in. There’s nothing dangerous in signing a petition.
It’s a show of solidarity. Doing NOTHING and showing apathy and acceptance is dangerous.
No where did I say a peaceful protest was futile. In fact I clearly and specifically said I support peaceful and lawful civic protests.
I also never used the naive word at all.
I said supporting the faithless electorate was futile and dangerous and provided info as to why via the linked article.
That isn’t just my opinion. Rationale is laid out, I would hope that anyone considering supporting a faithless electorate would take the time to consider the implications and the process first. Not just blindly click and support.
And my civics comment was admittedly largely referencing Tammy who didn’t seem to have knowledge of republic vs democracy.
Since i did tag you for the faithless electorate link, I see where and how that was not readily evident. Sorry that wasn’t clear.
From what I read one possible reason for the electoral college is our founders were afraid the people might pick a dangerous person and this was a way of circumventing that, thinking those in the electoral college are more informed voters.
To go as far as to say the military would get involved, in my opinion more likely the courts would get involved. But no matter, as it’s so very doubtful anything will come of this except those who feel strongly that Trump is a dangerous man can voice their dissatisfaction by signing, along with those peaceful protest.
I am not American, so I am not going to claim I know a lot about the electoral college, but if that is their role, 2016 would certainly be the year to prevent “a dangerous person” by voting for someone else (Hillary Clinton).
@bonbons, can you please link where Michael Moore advocated violence and property destruction?
I didn’t say he did. There is regrettably and shamefully some of that going on…..we all have seen valid news coverage of it occurring……..so denouncing it is valid….
…..but nowhere did I say MMoore advocated same.
For the large part, the very large part, these protests have been peaceful. And I think peaceful demonstrations is of the utmost importance.
@virginfan. You will read up thread that I too commented support for peaceful civic protest. I feel strongly so. However I feel equally strongly that ANY violence or destruction of property is to be condemned. It may be isolated, but it is wrong and should be condemned by us all.
Kitten, friend of mine posted this. I think it is spot on. http://www2.nybooks.com/daily/s3/nov/10/trump-election-autocracy-rules-for-survival.html
Xxoo SMD
I have PTSD. President Trump Stress Disorder.
Please calm down. Everything will be all right. We recovered quickly after Senator Sanders was sabatoged by the Democratic Machine, and so should you now.
The People have spoken. You must try to deal with it. Everything will be fine. Really!