Showing posts with label Schadenfreude. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Schadenfreude. Show all posts

January 27, 2023

Trump's secret plan for easily ending the war in Ukraine, Santos, and other schadenfreude tidbits

 Trump's secret plan for easily ending the war in Ukraine, Santos, and other schadenfreude tidbits
By Hal Brown


A link to this was in my email this morning:

Click above to read article
The article leads with these points:

  • Donald Trump appeared to criticize a decision by the US and Germany to provide tanks to Ukraine.
  • "FIRST COME THE TANKS, THEN COME THE NUKES," Trump said on his social media platform.
  • Trump also suggested ending the war in Ukraine would be "easy," without elaborating.

    At first blush on reading this I wondered what easy plan the man with the biggest brain had for ending the war which he was withholding, perhaps figuring he could sell it to President Zelensky or his pal Putin or even the fake president, Joe Biden.

    Then it occurred to me. What a dummy I was. Of course the easy way to end the war would be for Ukraine to unconditionally surrender.

    This would no doubt make Marjorie Taylor Greene happy:
    Her tweet led to these replies:

    In case you read my blog about Greene's aspirations before I tweaked my original illustration which just depicted her inside of the presidential seal, here's the new improved photoshop.

    Back to Trump:

    I wrote a few days ago that Trump's having Truth Social is a gift to prosecutors. I wrote that Trump behaves like a child who has problems with impulse control who is having a temper tantrum when he doesn't get his way. Once a tantrum starts there's a point of no return where the child, or adult in people like Trump, is no longer considering the negative consequences. 

    Trump can't restrain himself and perhaps with no-one around to vent to or make ridiculous self-aggrandizing claims to he takes to Truth Social where what he expresses can't be erased. From journalists tasked to monitor Truth Social to ordinary citizens there are many people making screen grabs of whatever he posts there.

    Here's an example. He posted this on Truth Social:

     “Does Coco Chow have anything to do with Joe Biden’s Classified Documents being sent and stored in Chinatown?” Trump wrote. “Her husband, the Old Broken Crow, is VERY close to Biden, the Democrats, and, of course, China.”

    Excerpt:

    Former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao fired back at former President Donald Trump for his racist remarks about her — insisting his attacks reveal “a whole lot more about him than it will ever say about Asian Americans.” 

    Chao, 69 — who has frequently been referred to by the former president as “Coco Chow” — issued the rare rebuke on Tuesday.


    Yesterday's National Review article referencing Truth Social was just reported on again on Morning Joe:


    And then there's George, or whatever his name is:

    This offers a lot of schadenfreude: 

    Kevin McCarthy "stands by" George Santos: Now the MAGA caucus owns his lies

    The Republican Party's illicit affair with a con man has already gone south. But Kevin McCarthy can't let go

    It is unusual, if not unprecedented, for a freshman member of Congress to make the top of the Washington Post website the way Santos has.
    Here's another story from the Post:

    This is breaking news Friday evening - I did add something to the photo:





    I thought it was interesting that website of The New York Times (see image) didn't have a single article about Santos.

    I blogged about George Santos yesterday and by this morning couldn't keep up with the new revelations about him to add to that story.


    Click above to read article
    Excerpt:

    The Wiki entry, last edited in 2011, appears to match up with biographical information currently provided by Santos, including his birth date and being born to a Brazilian family with a European background, Politico reported Friday.


    It also claims “Devolder” acted in a movie starring Uma Thurman and appeared in the TV series “Hanna Montana,” an apparent misspelled reference to a Disney show that starred Miley Cyrus, noted The New York Post.


    Any appearances as a drag queen by Santos could cause a meltdown within the Republican Party, whose members have very specifically attacked drag performances as part of their anti-LGBTQ hate campaign.

    On Jan. 11th I wrote Santos leads the GOP in eliciting Schadenfreude, no doubt more to come. No doubt, indeed, here it is Jan. 27th and he has been a gift that keeps on giving me pleasure, or schadenfreude if you prefer: 


    Schadenfreude is the experience of pleasure, joy, or self-satisfaction that comes from learning of or witnessing the troubles, failures, or humiliation of another. It is a borrowed word from German, with no direct translation, that originated in the 18th century. . Wikipedia

    There's more schadenfreude eliciting news. 


    While the report that John Eastman seems likely to get disbarred, and that Marjorie Taylor Greene had an amendment about releasing oil from the reserves defeated in the House 418 to 14


    The most promising pleasure I am hesitant to let reach the level of schadenfreude is the news reported here:

    Click above to read article




    Also read: 


    Bill Barr asked Italian officials to discredit Russia probe — they responded with evidence linking Trump to crimes


    I am hesitant to let myself feel too optimistic about this. It could lead once and for all to proving that the dots are clearly connected proving Putin attempted to get Trump reelected. Ideally we may learn that the attempt to prove that the there was no effort by Putin to influence the election could prove the very opposite.


    I just don't want to get my hopes up since Trump seems to have the most tenacious Teflon in the world. Not only that, whenever I indulge in schadenfreude in excess I come across articles like this: 

    The quiet takeover of the Tea Party: GOP establishment is now full MAGA

    Click above to read
    Excerpt:

    Meanwhile, the MAGA movement, under Trump, took up what was once the undercurrent of the Tea Party movement, the culture war, and brought it to center stage. No longer did anyone have to pretend that all they cared about was spending cuts. They could hate on immigrants and Black people and gays and liberals right out in the open and could do it in the crudest terms possible. Conspiracy theories were encouraged to flourish and loyalty to Trump was the only "issue" they needed to care about.

    This new Congress finally brings it all to the fore. It's all come together. The anti-tax, government-slashing extremists are one with the revolutionary MAGA culture warriors. Today Speaker Kevin McCarthy embraces Freedom Caucus member and MAGA heroine Marjorie Taylor Greene while Freedom Caucus founder and MAGA leader Jim Jordan leads a crusade to "take down the deep state" and Freedom Caucus member and MAGA superstar Matt Gaetz plots ways to destroy the economy if they don't get their way. They are all one. These former gadflies and bomb throwers are the establishment now. They are the Republican Party. The metamorphosis is finally complete.

    File these under semi-schadenfreude:

    Trump slapped down by judge in bid to avoid Jan. 6 Capitol cop trial


    McCarthy allies scrambling after leadership fight eroded his power: report


     

    January 11, 2023

    Santos leads the GOP in eliciting Schadenfreude, no doubt more to come

     Santos leads the GOP in eliciting Schadenfreude, no doubt more to come
    By Hal Brown, MSW



    UPDATE: Jan. 29:


    Original blog:

    There's no word in English, or any other language for that matter, for the German word Schadenfreude. Following the German convention it is often capitalized, which is good since it means it doesn't need further emphasis here, although I am tempted to put it in bold. 

    I experienced a delightful feeling of Schadenfreude when I read this article:

    As far as I'm concerned, and I expect other Democrats too, the longer George Santos stays in the House the better. I am sure that many or most of the House Republicans wish he would just go away as quickly and quietly as possible. They may be able to sideline him but I have no doubt that he will make himself accessible to reporters eager to cover his every utterance. "If it bleeds, it leads" certainly applies to Santos, and he's hemorrhaging.


    I am also watching reporters catching House Republicans being asked about Santos and enjoying watching them squirm as they deflect the questions.
    Below top center, Steve Scalise:
    Like Icarus, he is flying too close to the Sun

    I don't think it is wishful thinking to be convinced that Santos will not be the first Schadenfreude inducer as the House Republicans in the Freedom Caucus, more appropriately called the Free-to-Be-Crazy Caucus, grind the necessary business of the House to a screeching halt as they go full-steam ahead on their vengeance train. 

    I don't wish death or literal injury on anyone but I am reminded of incidents like this when a train went much faster than the tracks would support.

    The more-or-less not mentally unbalanced GOP House members like Jim Jordan, for all his grimacing, screaming, and screeching may have stories like this written about him...


    compared to the likes of Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert. and Matt Gaetz he's an exemplar of mental stability.

    The Schadenfreude with Jordan probably won't come with his swatting at hallucinatory flying pigs during a televised hearing which he chairs. While I'd like to see him turn into a quivering mass of incoherence when one of the Democrats nails him I doubt it will happen. 

    What I think will occur over time is that these hearings and investigations, especially the ones on the so-called weaponization of the federal government (read why this is the most dangerous) and Hunter Biden turn into Snipe hunts. I call it Schadenfreude delayed. When it happens...

    .... for Republicans, and not in a good way... it will be a nightmare filled sleep they can't wake up from.

    Updates: I really hoped George Santos would stay in the House for as long as possible, his being there causing rizik tsores (Yiddish for huge suffering) for Republicans. Now it looks like his days may be numbered. The Nassau County GOP called on him to resign. This makes it harder for House GOP to dodge the issue. 
    I wonder who the aide by his side, who gets in the elevator with him, is.


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