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Trump is being urged by some advisers to formally address the nation and call for calm, while others have said he should condemn the rioting and looting more forcefully or risk losing middle-of-the-road voters in November, according to several sources familiar with the deliberations.
[...] During a staff call Friday, Trump's top domestic policy aide Brooke Rollins argued for a measured response to riots the night before, advice that was echoed by Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner. Several advisers feared, and hoped to avoid, another Charlottesville moment, when Trump was criticized after declaring in 2017 that "very fine people" were among the Nazi mobs that descended upon Charlottesville, Virginia.
[...] While aides like Kushner have pushed for a more restrained response, Trump is also hearing from several advisers who warned that by not condemning the protests after the death of Floyd, an unarmed 46-year-old black man, that turned into rioting and looting, he is risking losing some demographics that will be key to his election victory in November, like suburban women voters.
As Protests and Violence Spill Over, Trump Shrinks Back
The president spent Sunday out of sight, berating opponents on Twitter, even as some of his campaign advisers were recommending that he deliver a televised address to an anxious nation.
how the George Floyd protests left Donald Trump exposed
“Americans watching this address tonight have seen the recent images of violence in our streets and the chaos in our communities. Many have witnessed this violence personally, some have even been its victims. I have a message for all of you: the crime and violence that today afflicts our nation will soon – and I mean very soon – come to an end.”
These were the words of Donald Trump, not in May 2020 but July 2016, as he accepted the Republican presidential nomination at the national convention in Cleveland.
[...] Not even Trump’s harshest critics can blame him for a virus believed to have come from a market in the Chinese city of Wuhan, nor for an attendant economic collapse, nor for four centuries of slavery, segregation, police brutality and racial injustice.
But they can, and do, point to how he made a bad situation so much worse. The story of Trump’s presidency was arguably always leading to this moment, with its toxic mix of weak moral leadership, racial divisiveness, crass and vulgar rhetoric and an erosion of norms, institutions and trust in traditional information sources. Taken together, these ingredients created a tinderbox poised to explode when crises came.
Antifa: Trump says group will be designated 'terrorist organisation'
"It's ANTIFA and the Radical Left. Don't lay the blame on others!" Mr Trump tweeted on Saturday.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by c0lo on Friday June 05 2020, @05:15AM (20 children)
Personal strategy: given an unavoidable choice between a passive fool and an active fool on "your side", always pick the passive fool.
At least you'll have less chances to land in a damaging situation that you have no control over it due to the action of a fool. All the others trying to compensate or take advantage of the fool are, at the very least, more predictable if not more rational.
The active fool will act chaotically; pick him 'for your team' only if you are an adrenaline junkie and like to live with the uncertainty of the next hour. Also keep in mind that the chances for something to go the way you like and/or need are slim: there are an infinite number of ways for the things to "go wrong" and just a handful (if any at all) ways for the things to "go well".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Arik on Friday June 05 2020, @05:22AM (8 children)
Fair enough, but I'm not convinced. At least the active fool stirs up opposition.
I don't want to see corporate America in charge of government America too. That's a worst case scenario, and that's what "both sides" are set on.
There must be a third side, at the least.
"All the others trying to compensate or take advantage of the fool are, at the very least, more predictable if not more rational."
They'll predictably enslave me and everyone I love.
A little unpredictability could hardly hurt then.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by c0lo on Friday June 05 2020, @05:37AM (1 child)
As long as you keep in mind it is likely the resulting chaos may hurt you and everyone you love, sure, go for it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Arik on Friday June 05 2020, @05:45AM
Yep, that sounds about right.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 05 2020, @02:00PM
Active fools just need to be pointed in the right direction, passive fools mess up when you really don't expect it.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Friday June 05 2020, @02:00PM (3 children)
I think we've had enough object lesson of "what happens when you put an idiot in charge." Can we please get back to something resembling rational leadership now?
Where in the Trump rhetoric or actions have you ever seen a sign that he is resisting the corporate takeover of societal power?
Yes, but the majority of U.S. voters can barely comprehend one choice: Us vs. Them - asking for a nuanced evaluation of multiple candidates is like asking Mr. Ed [wikipedia.org] for a philosophical dissertation on the pros and cons of philanthropic intervention in third world economies.
All evidence of the past 14 days to the contrary?
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by Arik on Friday June 05 2020, @02:19PM (1 child)
Wow, just how far back do you think you can go?
I mean, great idea, if you can pull it off. Write-in campaigns for President really have the deck stacked against them though.
"Where in the Trump rhetoric or actions have you ever seen a sign that he is resisting the corporate takeover of societal power?"
Trump personally? Not really. But the executive order is more than many of his predecessors ever did.
"Yes, but the majority of U.S. voters can barely comprehend one choice: Us vs. Them - asking for a nuanced evaluation of multiple candidates is like asking Mr. Ed [wikipedia.org] for a philosophical dissertation on the pros and cons of philanthropic intervention in third world economies."
The MSM and the Prussian schools work tirelessly to achieve that effect, but despite all their abuse people aren't quite as dumb as they want them to be. People are waking up.
"All evidence of the past 14 days to the contrary?"
All evidence? Do you mean to say you think everything bad that's happened over the last two weeks was Trump?
Cause that would be a little crazy, if that's really what you're saying. It's not like the states the Democrats control are doing any better than the rest of the country - quite the opposite. Democratic governors prohibit demonstrations that disagree with them, because covid - but encourage everyone to get out and protest against Trump, forget covid!
You still can't see what's going on?
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 05 2020, @02:58PM
Yes. EVERYTHING bad in the last couple of weeks can be directly traced to Trump's completely fucking up the national response to the murder by suffocation of a suspect. EVERYTHING.
Just like everything since January in Covid is completely Trump's fault for completely fucking up the national response to that.
And it is still continuing, as he endorses by retweet a letter equating all protestors to terrorists.
But that aside: Stupid man wants to claim he has absolute authority to do anything he wants to, then he gets absolute responsibility for everything that is taking place whether or not he actually has the authority. QED.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 05 2020, @07:36PM
Not to derail discussion too much, but that's really unfair to Mr. Ed. Seriously, have you watched the show? Mr. Ed may have been a horse, but he was ten times more intelligent than any of the other (human) characters there. Over the course of the series, Ed wins trivia questions on multiple quiz shows, is apparently an amazing chess player, and even outsmarts an international spy ring on multiple occasions. I mean, they tried to give Ed an intelligence test where there were two carrots, one of which was plugged up to an electric current. Ed sees how the test is run, unplugs the machine, and eats both carrots.
I doubt he'd be an expert on "pros and cons of philanthropic interventions," but I'd put more faith in the potential insightfulness of Mr. Ed's answer to such a question than 99% of the American public.
(Score: 2) by bussdriver on Friday June 05 2020, @06:09PM
Active Fools are MORE harmful; directly, their incompetence makes it difficult to manage, yes; however, large complex organizations are actually run by managers because a genius can't have enough time in the day to micromanage everything (let alone effectively.) Corruption is running rampant and we hardly even know as all the information overload, chaos, and distractions generated by the fool! Biden will not be able to recreate the level of smoke screen this fool has; plus the public doesn't even suspect anything clever when a fool is the "leader" (at least with Bush many saw him as the figurehead he was... the public thinks Trump is in charge and too incompetent for real permanent harm... while he has done more permanent damage than anybody in history.)
I've been against Biden since the 1st attempt to run for president. He is Mitt Romney if he was a democrat. Politically they are closer than probably any dem was to biden. Look it up at politicalcompass.org (BTW, a non US website) for now and back in 2012 for Romney.
There hasn't been a real choice since Carter; the last unapproved president. Yeah, Bernie etc. well you got to see what happens if somebody unapproved even gets close. They'd have killed him before he got in office or started a civil war like Lincolns presumed victory started (not his fault.)
I'll volunteer for Biden. The nation's demise is coming (all democracies fall to despotism) but I'd rather it die like the UK's empire or better, the Roman empire (which took longer to die than the USA is old) than turn into WW4, with the USA on the side of fascism this time.... remember fascism by it's nature is nationalistic so it won't use foreign terms and identities - it's use local themes. Hell, this "fool" is going to label anybody who strongly opposes fascism a terrorist! How clear does it have to get??? You can't fight corporate slavery when you are now an antifa terrorist.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by bradley13 on Friday June 05 2020, @08:26AM (7 children)
The problem is, there is no such thing as a passive fool. What you wind up with is active fools working behind the scenes. Remember the Shrub? While he wasn't totally passive, he was all too often a puppet for people like Cheney, who worked behind the scenes to fan the flames of war.
With someone like Trump, you can see what he's thinking (if you can call it that). There aren't many surprised or hidden maneuvers - at best, his actual actions are a bit disguised, because they're buried in the blather. With Biden, you would never be sure who was behind the curtain, or what their goals and motivations were.
Anyway, it doesn't matter. By selecting Biden, the Democrats have virtually guaranteed Trump's re-election.
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by DeathMonkey on Friday June 05 2020, @02:57PM (4 children)
Just 'cause he's Tweeting racist garbage and inciting more violence on Twitter does not mean he is being honest or transparent.
How many NDAs does he have?
Where are those Tax Returns?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 05 2020, @03:38PM
Didn't you hear? The Senate completely vindicated him.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 05 2020, @06:14PM (2 children)
tweeting racist garbage? yeah, if whites don't bend the knee and let stupid fucking monkeys burn their businesses down or "jog" through their neighborhoods breaking into houses at will, they're racists bastards. why are you such a lying, whiney little bitch?
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Friday June 05 2020, @07:23PM (1 child)
I'm not the one hiding in bunkers and putting a wall around the whitehouse.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 06 2020, @12:55AM
At least he's getting his wall even if it's just around the whitehouse.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 05 2020, @06:20PM (1 child)
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-campaign-meetings-white-house [foxnews.com]
https://www.270towin.com/2020-polls-biden-trump/ [270towin.com]
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/03/joe-biden-trump-poll-monmouth-298470 [politico.com]
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/president-general/ [fivethirtyeight.com]
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Friday June 05 2020, @07:25PM
Shhh!
Don't tell them about 2018 either!
I love that picture of Trump holding the bible upside down. Can you even fucking imagine if Obama had pulled that one?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 05 2020, @10:37AM (1 child)
Alternate strategy: use the primaries to avoid the possibility of having to choose between two fools. If your final choice comes down to two fools, vote blank or invalid. Wasting a vote is better than actively supporting a fool.
(Score: 2) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Friday June 05 2020, @11:18PM
So there are only going to be two candidates on the ballots with absolutely no alternative?
It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 05 2020, @03:07PM
That's true when you are the one leading. It is the opposite when you want to pick a leader.
Rookie mistake, tbh.