He made me do it... DeSantis showing his true colors.

 By Hal Brown

Another blog on DeSantis, Dumbo Dumps DeSantis, posted Friday, May 19 here.

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Yesterday I read 

Ron DeSantis Signs Draconian Anti-Trans Bathroom Bill Into Law

and  I was inspired to spend almost the entire afternoon making the snarky irreverent illustration above in reaction to this news.

DeSamtis is wearing shorts in the colors of the transgender pride flag. The large flag is the LGBTQIA+ Progress flag. Of course, it's of Bud Lite he's drinking.

If you haven't followed the Bud Lite brouhaha here's the story.

However as much as I enjoyed sticking it to DeSantis by making him look like he and his wife were on an LGBTQ+ party boat, his relentless attack on what he calls woke and what I call compassionate and enlightened culture is serious business. It is downright cruel, and utterly devoid of empathy. Not only that, it is dangerous and a public health hazard.

I looked through a hundred photos of DeSantis like these to put together the illustration until I found one where he wasn't wearing a buttoned dress suit. Note here that his idea of warm weather casual is wearing jeans and a dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up.

You can find many casual photos of Trump relaxing, mostly playing golf. However DeSantis is almost always pictured wearing a suit. I finally found one I could use from this tweet.

It is difficult to see the awkwardly stiff DeSantis partying down in any way, shape, or form whether on a gay party cruise or anywhere. I have a feeling that if he tried to dance to a pop song like Trump does to YMCA and Macho Man he'd make the former president look like John Travolta in "Saturday Night Fever" in comparison.

Here are more illustrations of DeSantis. I made them for my blog about him going after Disney:

 I asked ChatGPT to make an image of him wearing an anti-woke Superman style costume. This was the result:

I'm sorry, but as an AI language model, I cannot create visual images. However, I can provide you with a written description of Ron DeSantis wearing an anti-woke Superman-style costume.

Ron DeSantis stands tall, clad in a bright blue and red costume reminiscent of the iconic superhero Superman. The costume is emblazoned with the phrase "Anti-Woke" in bold white letters across his chest. The suit is form-fitting and muscular, accentuating DeSantis' physique.

The blue material of the costume is covered in stars, representing the American flag, and the red cape flowing behind him in the breeze. DeSantis wears a pair of blue tights and red boots that reach up to his knees. His face is stern and focused, with a determined expression. As he stands with his fists on his hips, a symbol of strength and confidence, the people around him look on in awe. With his Anti-Woke Superman-style costume, DeSantis is ready to fight against the forces of political correctness and cultural Marxism that threaten the values of the American people.

Someone posting on Mastodon found this picture which I modified:

Whether it's going after Disney or what has been dubbed by critics his "don't say gay" law the anti-woke war DeSantis has been waging is seems to be resulting an a be careful what you wish for outcome.

For example, a story which has been getting substantial national attention, as I write my blog this, is on MSNBC:

The teacher, Jenna Barbee, who is under investigation has put a very human face on the DeSantis insanity. I am not sure what an evil and scary groomer of children is supposed to look or sound like but I rather doubt many people who see her interviewed will think she fits this image.

You can watch the Morning Joe interview here:

The latest news is that Florida investigators want to interview some of Barber's fifth grade students. What are these children supposed to make of this?

So not only is DeSantis out to lure the Mickey Mouse into a killer trap (sensitive readers don't click here), but he's after elementary school teachers for daring to show a Disney film, the 2022 movie "Strange World,"  the first Disney movie with an openly gay character.

Read "Florida teacher investigated by state for showing Disney cartoon movie in class" from CNN.

The latest news is that DeSantis will probably announce his candidacy next week. This should be a fun race to watch. He's clearly the undog, and I don 't mean the cartoon superhero. It will be interesting to see how he combats the perception that he has the charisma of a stick in the mud. Watch for photo ops where he appears in shirtsleeves like everyone else does during a Florida summer.

He's staking his chances of beating Trump on two discreet hopes. First is that he's a saner younger and possibly more intelligent version of Trump. Second, that enough voters in the primary, and eventually the general election, care about his anti-woke war. Arguably the first is true. I rather doubt that second isn't. Even Trump doesn't particularly seem to care about being an anti-woke warrior. 

Update:

Click above to read article

Click here, scroll down, to comment.

YOUR FAVORITE PRSIDENT, ME is a mean version of Cliff Clavin.

 Trump's overnight rant on Truth Social:

"I WAS BEING FRAMED BY THE FBI AND THE DOJ, NOW IT CONTINUES WITH THE BOXES HOAX, THE 'PERFECT' PHONE CALL IN ATLANTA, THE MANHATTAN D.A., AND THE NEW YORK STATE A.G. SCAM. WHAT A GROUP, BUT ALL REPORT TO THE DOJ IN WASHINGTON. IT’S JAMES COMEY AND THE SLEAZEBAGS ALL OVER AGAIN. THEY ARE PLAYING ELECTION INTERFERENCE IN 2024 THROUGH ILLEGAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AGAINST REPUBLICANS, IN PARTICULAR YOUR FAVORITE PRESIDENT, ME. THESE ARE CHEATING LOWLIFES, BUT WE WILL WIN. OUR COUNTRY IS GOING TO HELL!" (my bold)

When it comes to self-aggrandizement, between his referring to himself in the third person (see BBC article) and his constant stream of ME, ME, ME, he's like a mean version of Cliff Clavin :

In "Cheers" the mailman played by John Ratzenberger knew everything. Nonetheless he was a rather likable character. Sure, he could be shoehorned into the criteria for narcissistic personality disorder, but he wasn't a mean narcissist. He was a know-it-all but he didn't rant and rave and never insulted anyone. 

There's no comparing him to Donald Trump. Trump's unbounded narcissism pushes the limits of grandiosity into the realm of delusion. His widely mocked digital trading cards (which aren't even cards since they aren't are cardboard) are a good example. The reports that he actually considered leaving Johns Hopkins after he was treated for Covid and showing he was wearing a Superman t-shirt under his dress shirt is another example.

 The closest Clavin comes to a public figure who isn't particularly mean today is George Santos with the important difference being that Clavin was likable. Does anybody actually find Santos likable?

Clavin was also a rather sad figure where occasionally he lamented not being able to find a girlfriend. He once explained this was because they didn't want a boyfriend who worked in such a dangerous professional as being a mailman.

There are lots of videos of his funniest moments. Here's one of them.

Sam and Diane's on again off again romance was a central theme of the show. Cliff and Norm had something of a bromance. If I was involved with writing the script today I'd add a lot of thinly veiled sexual innuendo. 

I don't know whether John Ratzenberger still supports Trump although he used to:

Click above to read article from Fox News

From Business Insider:

The "Cheers" and "Toy Story" star announced his support for Trump on Fox News.

"I want us to become self-reliant again... The only candidate out there is Donald Trump, for me, because he's a builder," he said. "He understands better than anybody that if we lose the people — average age is 58 years old by the way of people that actually know how to build things — once they're gone, they're gone and we don't have anybody comin' up behind them."

Below, some of Trump's stable of celebrities: 

Trump has to worry about yet another lawsuit thanks to Rudy Giuliani

 Update:

Tuesday evening, MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace laid out the case for Joyce Vance.

"Joyce, do we know that? I mean, Rudy's charging $2 million? Jared takes it over in a way and I always think that when I hear that Don McGahn or General Kelly or Rod Rosenstein, you know are in a in a fit – You know how bad was it? It was so bad that these guys who sat there through child separations, who, good people on both sides, who grabbed him in the bleep, it was so bad that even those people were distraught."

"How do we know that that Jared didn't, didn't run afoul of any laws? We know that money was being peddled by Rudy. We know that Jared was in charge of it, and we know that it was a process that even by Trump's standards, offended the Chief of Staff, the White House counsel and the deputy attorney general."

Vance replied, "This is not difficult to investigate," because,"there is a finite universe of people that the FBI would need to talk to."

She says the five-year statute of limitations has not passed, and if she were still at DOJ, "I'd be jumping on this one now." From Raw Story 

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I am not referring (in my title) to the upcoming second lawsuit by E. Jean Carroll, or the chance she will sue him again for what he said in the CNN appearance. (You can see Rachel Maddow's 12 minute interview her and her lawyer Robbie Kaplan form last night here.)

What I am referring to was reported on in depth in an 11 minute and a 5 minute segment on Lawrence O'Donnell's show last night:

    Noelle Dunphy’s lawsuit against Rudolph Giuliani accuses him of violating labor law, sexual harassment law, and laws against sexual assault but, as MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell points out, the lawsuit also claims there are audio recordings of Giuliani – some of which allegedly show Giuliani committed federal and state crimes. Giuliani denies the allegations.. Giuliani allegedly told Dunphy that he and then-President Trump were selling presidential pardons for $2 million, which the two men would split.  

Note the chyron.

Click the images to enlarge them.

Trump possibly being implicated aside, it is clear that Rudy is so far submersed and sinking into deep shit that he'll soon need a snorkel to breathe. This is because what he did is documented in audio recordings. Dunphy and her attorneys have recordings to verify the following:

Sasha Baron Cohen, the producer of the Borat movie, is interviewed in the O'Donnell segment.

The story is making the news elsewhere.

  It was the top story on HUFFPOST for example:

From MediaIte: 

15 Most Shocking and Disturbing Allegations in Giuliani Sex Abuse Complaint

Excerpt about Trump pay for pardons scheme:

Giuliani allegedly claimed Trump was selling pardons for $2 million and bragged he had ‘immunity’ from the law

Giuliani allegedly told Dunphy that he and then-President Trump were selling presidential pardons for $2 million, which the two men would split:

He also asked Ms. Dunphy if she knew anyone in need of a pardon, telling her that he was selling pardons for $2 million, which he and President Trump would split. He told Ms. Dunphy that she could refer individuals seeking pardons to him, so long as they did not go through “the normal channels” of the Office of the Pardon Attorney, because correspondence going to that office would be subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act.

Giuliani also allegedly bragged that his powerful connections meant he did not have to follow the law.

To date the most damaging thing that has happened to Rudy's reputation aside from the minor matter of being suspended from practicing law in New York  has been the humiliation of his Four Season Total Landscaping dripping hair dye appearance.

Rudy would have liked images like this to define him:

Of all the images of Rudy Giuliani there is now one that he has to live with as defining his entire career:

Now Rudy will be desperately defending himself in a trial that makes the dripping hair dye photos of him look dignified. 

It will be a delightful sideshow to follow the literal trial and the legal tribulations of Rudy the Wretched as he attempts to sell his defense. This, according what was described on Lawrence O'Donnell, involves his claiming that Dunphy was never actually his employee so he couldn't be exploiting her.  

While far less salacious, it will be much more enjoyable to see how the equally repulsive sexual predator Donald Trump is - dare I use the word -  exposed for participating in an tawdry pay for pardons scheme.

Unfortunately there are no recordings of Rudy discussing the pay for pardons scheme involving splitting the money with Trump, but Dunphy's lawyer indicated these could be verified through witnesses.

Trump has put the words "toxic" and "unhinged" into everyday usage

By Hal Brown

Of course both the words "toxic" and "unhinged" have been around for a long time. They are now often used in describing Donald Trump. 

It is impossible to select the best paradigmatic example of something Trump said or wrote which demonstrates how he is both toxic and unhinged.

I was prompted to write this because of the most recent example. This was his Mother's Day post on Truth Social.

His CNN appearance contained so many examples of this is I couldn't find just one to write about.

However posting a message like he did on Mother's Day, a day when people capable of love give lovely cards and flowers to the mothers in their lives, was particularly demonstrative of his unhinged toxicity. 

Much of the media focus on his Mother's Day message was on his not mentioning Melania, for example:

This isn't the first time Trump has sent such messages out on holidays as the following from Yahoo News reminds us:

Trump has historically used occasions like Easter, Christmas, Father's Day, and last year's Mother's Day, to attack his political rivals with less-than-festive greetings.

Last year, he sent out Christmas greetings to the "Radical Left Marxists," and wished a Happy Father's Day to the "Radical Left, RINOs, and other Losers of the world."

Here's a Google search for Trump and toxic.

Here's one for Trump and unhinged.

Toxic and unhinged... what a combination... 

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An image I wish I could unsee: Trump celebrating CNN interview by dancing to "Macho Man" at Mar-a-Lago

 Thanks for this, Maureen Dowd:

Click above to view several clips of
Trump dancing to Macho Man

As a video circulates of Trump celebrating his CNN performance by dancing to “Macho Man” by the pool at Mar-a-Lago, we see Trump unplugged. 

From

No Playing Ostrich With Trump

As Sun Tzu says, ‘Know the enemy.’

I suppose I had a streak of masochism when I tried, at first unsuccessfully, to find a video of him doing his dufus dance to "Macho Man" at Mar-a-Lago so I could write this blog. Instead I posted the video above. 

Still, this image was already cluttering my mind and it was hard to turn off so I thought it might be something of a catharses to write this.

Then I did a bit more web searching and found that Medialite has a link to a tweet with the video of him dancing at Mar-a-Lago:

Click above or below to play

Excerpt from Medialite:

Former President Donald Trump seemed to have little care in the world following his controversial town hall with CNN, as he was spotted getting down to music while poolside at Mar-a-Lago.

A clip from an event at Mar-a-Lago Thursday night began circulating on Twitter via @MJisMAGA, which showed the former president arriving to a poolside dinner while performers dressed as The Village People entertained the crowd.

Trump, whose dance moves appear to be isolated to only his arms, jived to the music as the crowd cheered him on and snapped photos.

Trump's use of the Village People songs "Macho Man" and "YMCA" has been controversial because they are considered anthems for the gay community. However The Village People gave him the okay to use them:

Click above to read article

Excerpt:

Some noted the irony of Trump entering to "Macho Man," given his administration's track record on LGBTQ rights and the fact that Village People is rooted in gay culture (the group's name refers to New York City's Greenwich Village, which was known for its large gay population during its formation).

I have no doubt that Trump relishes the controversy that his using these songs stirs up, and particularly enjoys playing and dancing to "Macho Man" because he see himself as magnificently macho. He has no ability to comprehend irony and thus doesn't realize that he's dancing to a song with lyrics that poke fun at men like him.

[Intro]
(Body) Body (wanna feel) Wanna feel my body, baby?
(Such a thrill) Such a thrill, my body yeah-yeah
(Wanna touch) Wanna touch my body, baby?
(It's too much) It's too much, my body yeah-yeah
(Check it out my) Check it out my body, body
(Don't you doubt) Don't you doubt my body, body
(Talkin' bout my) Talkin' bout my body, body
(Check it out my) Check it out my body

[Verse 1]
Every man wants to be a macho, macho man
To have the kind of body always in demand
Jogging in the mornings, go man go
Work outs in the health spa, muscles glow
You can best believe that he's a macho man
Ready to get down with, anyone he can

[Chorus]
Hey! Hey! Hey, hey, hey!
Macho, macho man (macho man)
I've got to be a macho man
I've got to be a macho, macho man
I've got to be a macho! Ow!
Macho, macho man
I've got to be a macho man
Macho, macho man (yeah, yeah)
I've got to be a macho!

from genius.com

Back to Maureen Dowd's column, for those without a subscription to The New York Times, here are a few bullet points:

• Trump always ridiculed people, but when he brought that into the presidential arena, it was like injecting a virus of cruelty into the political bloodstream.
• As a video circulates of Trump celebrating his CNN performance by dancing to “Macho Man” by the pool at Mar-a-Lago, we see Trump unplugged. The existential threat is aiming to get back in the Oval, this time without anyone trying to keep him from going completely off the rails...
• Trump is spiraling into even more of a self-deluded narcissist, if that’s possible. And he’s even more obsessed with numbers — if that’s possible.
• The town hall was enlightening — and frightening. But we needed that reminder to be on full alert, because Trump is not just an unhinged and dangerous extremist; he is also a cunning and dominating insurgent.
• Sun Tzu stressed that victory depends on knowing the enemy — “Force him to reveal himself.”

Once again the wisdom of Sun Tzu's often quoted statement is demonstrated when it comes to deteriming how to defeat Donald Trump.

Click above to enlarge image search of the quote.

I've written a lot about using an understanding of Trump's psychopathology to fight him (example). Mental health professionals writing about Trump as I have believe that understanding Trump's personality is a key to defeating him.  Here's a tweet of mine from 2019:

Click to enlarge image

Putin also knows what makes Trump tick, and he's also played him like a piccolo by appealing to his delusional grandiose narcissism. 

I'd like to see President Biden and his surrogates expose Trump for who and what he is by sharpening his attacks on Trump if he should become the GOP nominee by using well crafted mockery.  After all, Trump's narcissism has been a gift that has kept giving for late night comics and there's no indication Trump will stop offering material.

Bonus:

George called Elaine's dancing "more like full body dry heaves" than dancing on Seinfeld. At least she looks like she's having fun and is uninhibited and she moves her entire body. Trump looks like he's had a spinal block when he does his version of a dance.

Click above to watch

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Progressive Oregonian shocked and dismayed to see the main story on HUFFPOST

My morning ritual leading up to eventually deciding what, if anything, I can blog about is:

1. I start my Keurig for my coffee
2. I turn on MSNBC
3. I fire up my laptop
4. I check my email
5. The first website I look at is HUFFPOST just to see what their editors decide to post as their lead story

Then I look at The New York Times, Washington Post, Raw Story, Salon, and other websites. I often find something I want to blog about in those stories.

Today I was surprised to see that the main HUFFPOST story was about something that very much impacted me as an Oregonian who is pleased to live in a very progressive state.

This is what I saw:

Click above to read article.

Oregon progressives and even middle-of-the road residents dodged a bullet named Christine Drazen, a far right Republican, in our most recent governor race, because an independent named Betsy Johnson became a third party candidate.

Click above to read article
(left to right Kotek, Johnson, Drazen)

Fortunately liberal Democrat Tina Kotek won.

Oregon, and Portland in particular, isn't a politically progressive Brigadoon. We have many problems including a lamentable rate of often deadly shootings, and rampant homelessness. In addition, we have our history of Black Live Matters protests which became violent and made national news. This was because far right groups came here because they were attracted to Portland's reputation as a being so progressive. We are known, among other things, for being so early in decriminalizing recreational use of marijuana, being LGBTQ+ friendly, and accepting immigrants. We also have  the first-of-its-kind psilocybin therapy program.

We also have the eastern rural portion of the state, which is mostly Republican and tends to be rampantly MAGA. They have been voting in non-binding country referendums to become part of Idaho in something called The Greater Idaho Movement. Read today's article about dueling protests.

My takeaway from this situation with our senate is that I should never get blasé about living in such a progressive area, and in the suburbs of a city which rightfully proudly celebrates itself for being weird. 

There is hope as far as this attempt to block hundreds of bills addressing, among other things, gender-affirming medical care, homelessness, gun control, mental health care, education, and abortion rights.  

There is a fly in the ointment that these Republican senators may have inadvertently swallowed. This is that a 2022 ballot measure is now part of the Oregon Constitution. It disqualifies a lawmaker with 10 or more unexcused absences from holding office in the next term.

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Some thoughts about Tucker Carlson, Joe and Hunter Biden, George Santos, and Kaitlan Collins

 

On Tucker Carlson trying to build an audience on Twitter

I just don't think this will make much of a splash, more of a ripple. Fox is the only venue that could give him the kind of audience he wants. Not only this, but he needs to be on television not on a computer screen. Even if Newsmax payed him more than Fox did, thus enabling him to get on a TV screen, I doubt people will break their Fox News habit to tune into another station. A lot depends on Fox's programming during whatever time Tucker is on Newsmax.  

Bottom line, Musk needs Tucker more than Tucker needs Musk. I think Tucker is toast, stale, burnt toast and Musk is a moldy melon. Both will end up in a compost heap.

On the GOP quest to implicate President Biden in some kind of criminal activity involving his supposed consiglieri master spy Hunter Biden:

Hmmm... who are you going to believe really bad things about? Donald Trump who lived all his adult, or I should put this is George Santos fashion as his "adultish" life, as a sadistic sociopath out only for himself, or Joe Biden who possibly once transgressed by wearing mismatched socks.

While on George Santos:

While as someone with actual expertise in making psychiatric diagnoses I've concluded at Donald Trump is a malignant (sociopathic) sadistic grandiose narcissist and Hershel Walker most likely still suffers from dissociative identity disorder. I can't come up with what, if any, psychiatric disorder George Santos suffers from. He has managed to put the word "fabulist" associated with his lying into discussions about him. Thus I do give him credit for improving the vocabulary of lots of people.

Fabulist: a liar, especially a person who invents elaborate, dishonest stories: a born fabulist, with an imagination unfettered by the laws of logic and probability.

On CNN's Kaitlan Collins, dice, and the Mafia

As someone who watches MSNBC and doesn't ever tune into CNN I wasn't familiar with this so-called rising CNN star. I was talking about her with my partner and said that she could have made her bones if she'd managed to hold Trump's feet to the fire when she interviewed him. I had to explain where the idiom "make your bones" came from. For those who aren't fans of The Godfather and the Sopranos where the phase is used to describe establishing one's reputation by killing someone. 

If Collins had killed it by nailing Trump she would have made her bones. There are so many gotcha follow-up questions she could have insisted he answer. I would have liked him to explain exactly what he meant when he said E. Jean Carroll was a wack job this this often means someone is mentally ill.

While the bones derivation might come from establishing one's bona fides, I think it comes from the game of craps.Dice were originally made from actual bones. Thus making your bones would mean winning at a game once played with bones.

Click to go to main blog. Updates will be posted here rather that on Booksie, Substack, or Medium.

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