[Snowdrop]

The only people stupid enough to believe Trump would have your back in a tight corner are Trump supporters.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/01/politics ... index.html

One of your own fellow countrymen assured me that if Trump were elected, he'd make parking in NHS hospitals free. After I retrieved from jaw from the ground, I asked him why. Because he's a man of the people who cares, he said. I said, No, if he were in some bizarre dreamworld involved with NHS parking lots, he'd privatize them all, rename them Trump Health Parking, and raise the prices.

[davidjay]

The only people stupid enough to believe Trump would have your back in a tight corner are Trump supporters.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/01/politics ... index.html

One of your own fellow countrymen assured me that if Trump were elected, he'd make parking in NHS hospitals free. After I retrieved from jaw from the ground, I asked him why. Because he's a man of the people who cares, he said. I said, No, if he were in some bizarre dreamworld involved with NHS parking lots, he'd privatize them all, rename them Trump Health Parking, and raise the prices.

The people tend to believe that men of the people are on their side based on what they say and very rarely on what they do.

[Snowdrop]

It's just astonishing to me that the most venal, selfish, power-crazed, vain president we've ever had manages to convince people he cares about them. Donate to my campaign; just ignore the Boeing 757 I happen to own.

[Abernathy]

I know I keep saying this (and Mrs A says I’m becoming tedious), but the very first time I even became aware of Donald Trump, as part of some news item about the Murrikan version of the TV show The Apprentice, and long before he embarked on his political adventure, I more or less instantly assessed him to be an absolute arsehole of brobdingnagian proportions.

In the face of the absolutely obscene debacle of Trump’s progression in the years since, I am driven repeatedly to wonder why if I, a Brit with only a the most cursory of interests in Murrikan culture and politics, could do this, why the blubbering fuck can’t 70 million Americans ?

[davidjay]

It's just astonishing to me that the most venal, selfish, power-crazed, vain president we've ever had manages to convince people he cares about them. Donate to my campaign; just ignore the Boeing 757 I happen to own.

Whereas over here we'd never allow bankers, billionaires and members of the aristocracy to call themselves anti-Establishment.

[Spoonman]

It's just astonishing to me that the most venal, selfish, power-crazed, vain president we've ever had manages to convince people he cares about them. Donate to my campaign; just ignore the Boeing 757 I happen to own.

That's an offshoot from the shtick Televangalists have been successfully poullouting American society from for decades. And sadly, despite all evidence otherwise, plenty of people including some in very vulnerable positions still fall for it.

Sadly, we do have similar "I really am the salt of the earth" types over on this side of the Atlantic that have done similar damage to economies, societies and political discourse that will last for decades to come, but have otherwise been a little bit more subtle (loud dog whistles mostly) as the boorishness of Trump is just a "bit" too much/OTT for local sensibilities - at least for now. In turn we get gobshites like Farage and Rees-Mogg whom try to pretend they're "men of the people" despite being less anti-establishment than a Kenny G CD - and in turn, they sucker in types that are only ever too willing to "doff their cap" to, 'cos "class".

As for the Briton whom was convinced that Trump would abolish NHS car parking charges, they sound like someone whom you could take the piss out of by sending them to Home Depot** and getting them to ask for a long stand.

But overall, see the text in my sig.




**A very popular American chain of hardware stores, for those unfamiliar. Other such chains or stores can of course be otherwise referenced.

[Bones McCoy]

Silly Septics.


You wouldn't catch we British letting some gobshite who presents the Apprentice anywhere near our houses of parliament.

[Andy McDandy]

Trump, JRM, Fargle etc are all examples of a thick person's idea of what classy is.

In Trump's case, it's look, you don't have to be edjicated or speak propuh to have money, and money solves all problems, is the great objective metric, can't argue with the bottom line. You can succeed and not be a clever bastard. Look at his bird, tits like space hoppers, probably made out of the same stuff.

Yeah, I can see its appeal.

[Rosvanian]

Stumbled across this last week:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m ... -and-money

Fascinating, baffling and terrifying. Poor Americans giving money to Israeli Jews in order to bring about the second coming whilst believing that every single Jew will go to hell when that happens.

[MisterMuncher]

It's only numbers and history that allows American Evangelical Christians to be seen as anything but the fuck-mental doomsday cult they really are. Put another way, if someone started espousing this shit last week, law enforcement might reasonably enough be taking an interest, as readily evidenced when any of them (Westboro, the 12 tribes) start saying the quiet bits out loud. All that before you start getting into the homophobia, misogyny, child abuse, racism and general free-form bigotry these cats live and die for.

[Andy McDandy]

I'm particularly interested in America during the 1920s, and while weird evangelism over there is nothing new (some would say it's pretty much the story of the country), there are parallels between the religious right today, and the prohibitionists, particularly Wayne Wheeler's Anti-Saloon League. Mainly in that they squashed any moderate groups, then insisted that to gain their support, a politician had to sign up to their agenda 100%. No matter how nuts it was.

[Youngian]

Didn’t familiar culture war propel Prohibitionism? Metropolitan decadence, Catholic revelry and immigrants for eg.

[Andy McDandy]

All of the above. Most breweries were owned by German Americans, and the drinking culture was heavily associated with immigrants and the working class.

Wheeler tied prohibition to other causes though, such as women's suffrage and fair wages - the catch being that to secure his support (or to avoid him smearing you to hell and back), you had to swallow his entire agenda.

[Youngian]

Restrictions on US beer brewing remained until the mid 70s. Seem to recall America’s impressive resurgent microbrewing industry of the past four decades have Gerald Ford to thank for sweeping away prohibition era laws.

There were some gains from prohibition as well like violence against wives declining rapidly.

[Spoonman]

It's only numbers and history that allows American Evangelical Christians to be seen as anything but the fuck-mental doomsday cult they really are. Put another way, if someone started espousing this shit last week, law enforcement might reasonably enough be taking an interest, <snip>

...unless you're in the city centre of Belfast.

[Spoonman]

Restrictions on US beer brewing remained until the mid 70s. Seem to recall America’s impressive resurgent microbrewing industry of the past four decades have Gerald Ford to thank for sweeping away prohibition era laws.

They still have what is effectively a national minimum drinking age of 21 which to most European eyes is a bit "late". Reminds me of when Dubya's daughter was caught & arrested by police for drinking alcohol aged 19, when the incident was mentioned on HIGNFY Angus Drayton quiped (sarcastic, obvs) "What kind of crazy bitch is she?"

[MisterMuncher]

It's only numbers and history that allows American Evangelical Christians to be seen as anything but the fuck-mental doomsday cult they really are. Put another way, if someone started espousing this shit last week, law enforcement might reasonably enough be taking an interest, <snip>

...unless you're in the city centre of Belfast.

I remember being told by a PSNI chap to remove my DK's "Nazi Punks Fuck Off" t-shirt lest it offend a gathering of the Evanjellies outside City Hall. It was, I think, possibly one of the most backhanded compliments I've ever seen.


(Worth noting that it's shockingly recently that the Belfast God Squad have stopped having "gatherings" outside gigs to disrupt and aggravate the situation for those attending any such ungodly delights.)

[Malcolm Armsteen]

When I was teaching we didn't have a uniform, only a dress code, and anything deemed offensive was out.

So the boy Mcxxxx was most surprised when I told him that

a) wearing a Glasgow Rangers shirt was an incitement to partisan violence, and
b) No other fucker in the school knew why he was wearing it...

(I knew because I was good mates with Jimmy Mcxxxx who came to England to avoid the troubles, he being a pretty decent minded Protestant. His wife, however, believed she had to have orange curtains so that the local pop in Sunderland knew her tribal loyalties. It didn't last.)

[Yug]

The world's smartliest businessman finds himself in yet more bigly trouble

Donald Trump committed fraud by repeatedly misrepresenting his wealth by hundreds of millions of dollars, a New York judge has ruled.

The ruling, part of a civil case brought against the former president and his family business, said he defrauded banks and insurers for years.

It is a major blow to Mr Trump that will likely hamper his ability to do business in the state.

Mr Trump and the other defendants have argued that they never committed fraud.

New York Attorney General Letitia James had accused Trump, his two adult sons and the Trump Organization of inflating the value of their properties by more than $2bn (£1.65bn) to suit the needs of their business.

She claimed the defendants issued false records and financial statements in order to get better terms on loans and insurance deals, and to pay less tax.

The scathing decision on Tuesday was issued by Judge Arthur Engoron in the New York state court, after Ms James asked for a summary ruling before the trial begins. She argued that finding certain facts to be beyond dispute would speed up the trial.

The judge determined that Mr Trump:

Overvalued Mar-a-Lago by 2,300% in one financial statement
Overvalued his penthouse at Trump Tower in New York by claiming that it was three times its actual size
"Absurdly" argued that calculating the area of the penthouse was subjective, ruling "a discrepancy of this order of magnitude, by a real estate developer sizing up his own living space of decades, can only be considered fraud"
The ruling resolves the key claim of fraud made in the lawsuit, meaning the trial will now focus on a more narrow set of six remaining claims and determine the size of any potential penalty.

The trial is scheduled to begin on 2 October and could last until at least December. Ms James is seeking $250m in penalties and a ban on Mr Trump doing business in his home state...

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-66931855.amp

[Youngian]

Polling is placing Trump ten points ahead of Biden. Is the US now a nation of thieving opioid addicts and meth heads with no dignity left?
Le Pen may well be in the Élysée at the same time as Trump’s return and Putin in Kiev and the Baltic states by tea time.