Laboring to write something worth reading on Labor Day, By Hal Brown, MSW

All I have to write about is a few tidbits that got my attention none of which seemed worthy of an entire blog.

I noticed that Elon Musk was in the news because Trump floated the idea that he would have a role in his adminstration if he became president. However Trump said the following:

Trump answered questions about whether Musk would be part of his Cabinet as president but downplayed the idea, saying that the man running three different companies might be too busy to take on a fourth position.

“He wants to be involved, but look, he’s running big businesses and all that ... so he can’t really [be in the Cabinet],"Trump told the Shawn Ryan Show. “He can sort of, as the expression goes, consult with the country and give you some very good ideas.”

 If (a big "if") Musk is as patriotic as he wants people to believe he is and Trump wins he'd be more than willing to do as other wealthy entrepreneurs have done. He'd leave it to others to run their business empires and step up to serve the country.

Consider:

This information might not come as a big surprise, but Donald Trump’s cabinet is the wealthiest when it comes to the net assets of all of its members when compared to Bush’s and Obama’s initial cabinets. His $2.33 billion heavy cabinet’s net worth is 35 times bigger than Obama’s first cabinet and still seven times more worth than the 2001 cabinet of former Republican president George W. Bush.

Trump selected his ministers with an eye on their former entrepreneurial successes. Shortly after the election he stated, “I want people that made a fortune”. His richest cabinet member is his Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. Trump’s Secretary of Commerce, Wilbur Ross, who made a fortune by reconstructing imbalanced companies, ranks second on the list. However, Donald Trump did not succeed in building the wealthiest US cabinet in history. In Obama’s second term, he selected Penny Pritzker, heiress to the Hyatt Hotel empire, as his Secretary of Commerce. Her $2.2 billion net worth alone is almost as big as Trump’s whole cabinet’s monetary assets.  From article here.

This is related to Musk. Trump is posting on X/Twitter again. This means he's given up on Truth Social as his primary venue for posting online and for making the news with his rants. 

Here are some recent Trump posts. Clicking only enlarges them:

The man who used Arlington National Cemetary to make a political ad just tweeted the following:

We grieve the senseless death of the Israeli Hostages, horrifically including a wonderful American Citizen, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, murdered by Hamas due to a complete lack of American Strength and Leadership. Make no mistake — This happened because Comrade Kamala Harris and Crooked Joe Biden are poor Leaders. Americans are getting slaughtered overseas, while Kamala is disparaging and making up lies about Gold Star families, and Biden is sleeping on the beach on this 16th consecutive day of vacation. They have blood on their hands! Sadly, this is the total lack of “Leadership” that Kamala and Biden represent — One that allows terrorists to take American lives, because they only care about Weaponizing the Department of Justice against their Political Opponent. Just like the Debacle of the Afghanistan Withdrawal that claimed 13 American lives, Kamala and Biden’s judgment has not only put lives at risk, but is directly responsible for unnecessary deaths that should have never happened.

 

Our Country and our amazing people are not safe under Joe Biden, and will be less safe under Kamala Harris. This terror would have never happened if I were President, and it will stop the day I am back in the Oval Office. America will be Strong Again, and that will make the World Safe and Secure!

Below: Although by far most tweets are supportive of him a few are not. So far he's not banning those who tweet things that are critical of him.

Completely unrelated to this, as readers of my blog know, I am interested in what can be done using AI to make illustrations. I came across this BBC article from March:

Can you spot the signs that these images aren't read? (Click to enlarge)

Using AI to make superhero images or to mock Trump (as I do) is one thing, but using it to fake real photos is an entirely different thing because there are those who will believe they are real.  They won't look for the indications (shown above with my red arrows) that they are made by a computer program.

Readers of my blog also know I like alliterations. The main page of HUFFPOST had a dandy one for this article.

The question as to whether Trump will duck out of the debate remains open, the HUFFPOST article had a link to a deliciously delusional comment Trump made about God here. He says he believes God wants him to straighten out the country because it's so sick, so broken.

Here are some of the 950 replies (clicking will enlarge images):

A few more:

Donald can think that all he wants. But I’m pretty sure he knows what the truth is when it comes to him and God. He sees the cold rage every time he closes his eyes—and it’s why he can’t sleep.

Hey, It isn't easy to break all 10 Commandments.

"I'd like to think that if my aunt had a mustache, she'd be my uncle," Trump says.

He’s right.  Our country is so sick….so sick of him.

On Nov 5th, when Kamala gets elected, Trump will say that God (yes, the same God) made a mistake and religion is rigged. Remember, Trump wants God to be his “vote counter,” and we all know what happens when he doesn’t get what he wants. 

Jesus told me last time we took a helicopter ride together.

Throughout the thread there are dozens of these ads:

Read previous blogs here.

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Trump wants to look like a muscle bound superman and a regular caring compassionate human being. Can he sell himself as having two faces? By Hal Brown, MSW

 Can Trump sell himself as having two faces?

You can click my AI images to enlarge them.

The image above really didn't convey Trump as particularly compassionate and caring. Here's what I got when I asked my free Perchance Photo AI for happy Trump playing with little children. Apparently even AI couldn't make him look he was enjoying himself. 

I refined the instructions to "happy Trump enjoying playing with little children." These came out somewhat more human but I doubt you'll find any like them on his digital trading cards.

I wrote about Trump's new digital trading cards here.

As we know Trump's digital cards depict him as anything but a normal person. Yet now he is trying to do exactly that as he tries to appeal to women. At the same time he knows he has to promote his outlandish macho image. This photo is from The NY Times (subscription) article Donald Trump Courts the Manoverse.

This is a long article worth reading if you have a subscription or know some who does. 

From early in the article:

At a time of an immense gender gap in politics among young people — women leaning left, men leaning right — the Trump campaign has been aggressively courting what might be called the bro vote, the frat-boy flank. It’s a slice of 18-to-29-year-olds that has long been regarded as unreliable and unreachable, but that Republicans believe may just swing the election this year.

Here's the excerpt on what they call "masculinity politics."

Every four years, campaigns and political analysts slice the electorate into tiny subgroups that they believe may swing the vote. Suburban mothers in Michigan. Retirees in Arizona. Latinos in Nevada. Black voters in Georgia.

But the gender gap is a megatrend spanning across swing states and racial groups. And it is most prominent among young voters. In a series of New York Times/Siena College polls in six swing states this month, young men favored Mr. Trump by 13 points, while young women favored Ms. Harris by 38 points, a 51-point gap.

John Della Volpe, the director of polling for the Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School, has found a similar divide in his surveys.

“Young men tell me that they’re thinking about what it means to be masculine, what it means to be grown up,” Mr. Della Volpe said. “Many of them saw Trump as someone who could be their version of masculinity.”

Those potential voters, some voting for the first time, follow Mr. Trump more for his personality than his policies, Mr. Della Volpe said. They see him speaking against political correctness and absorbing waves of attacks, from high-minded criticism and court cases to an assassination attempt.

The question is whether Mr. Trump can lure young men to the ballot box. There is reason for skepticism: New York Times/Siena College surveys show that about a third of young men who say they plan to vote for Trump did not vote in 2020. Young men also report they are less likely to vote than older voters.

Photo from the article:

Trump's campaign has just released a video ad courting black women (read article). 

Here's another NY Times article.

Check out this excerpt:

Forgoing his usual rallies, the former president had agreed to a special “fireside chat” with Moms for Liberty. To signal how cozy and Oprah-esque this was going to be, a vase of red roses sat on a small table beside his large white armchair and the one occupied by Tiffany Justice, a co-founder of the group.

Before the event, Ms. Justice shared with me her hopes for the encounter. She wanted Mr. Trump to talk parental rights, of course, but she also wanted folks to see a softer side of him: “He’s a dad. He’s a grandfather. He loves his family. We’ve seen him working with his family in politics and business, right? I hope the American people get to know Donald Trump in a little bit of a different way. He’ll get to express his love for his family. I think that’s going to resonate with American voters.”

The article concludes:

It will surprise no one that in Ms. Justice’s tête-à-tête with Mr. Trump, the topic of abortion was avoided like … well, like the former president’s mention of any of his kids not named Ivanka.

Still, there was little Ms. Justice could do to keep Mr. Trump on track. Not that it mattered to anyone in the room. At evening’s end, the crowd inching toward the escalators was buzzing, and I chatted with some women thrilled simply to have been in the same room with their idol.

But as for the rest of America — all those women and men not already sold on the MAGA king — it’s hard to imagine they saw much of anything different in his fireside chattiness. At least not in a reassuring or humanizing direction. 

Obviously Trump needs women, whether black or not, in order to win. Can what any objective informed observer with a modium of psychosocial knowledge will call toxic masculinity buy that self-aware women will buy the message that Trump has empathy and compassion? Will they believe that he actually respects women? 

Is anybody with any sense going to believe Trump could have a soft side like Superman?

Above: Adventures Of Superman #5

If they do I have a really good bridge to sell them at a bargain price.

Read previous blogs here.