Khan

Bannon's firing/resignation/whatever is good...but it's not good enough.

What a certain, now-former WH strategist might be thinking right now (minus, of course, the "poor, Black and ugly" part):

Republican leaders continue to let Trump turn the GOP into the white supremacist party From the article: I have no great insight into the deep psychology of Republican Party leaders, other than the overly simplistic but still predictive political science chestnut of treating them as single-minded seekers of reelection. But at some point, the obvious question becomes: Reelected to what? To be a member of the party of white supremacy? To hold office in a country torn apart by race war because they were too pusillanimous to stand up against the causes precipitating it?

I said before how I thought Steve Bannon was either a moron or a liar -- and I stand behind that estimation. However, something tells me that if Trump WERE to oust Bannon, then Bannon would try to take down him and his entire administration in the worst way possible, bringing new meaning to the words "scorched earth." Everything we even THOUGHT we knew about the president and his staff would be peanuts compared to what Steverino might have up his sleeves.

Wait, so now Bannon insists the interview was STRATEGIC? How is it STRATEGIC to admit that North Korea actually has us over a metaphorical barrel? Granted, as I've said upthread, I don't think anyone ever looked at Trump's "fire and fury" jive as more than just that, but let's just say that if I WERE Steve Bannon, I wouldn't admit as much to anyone. You know, just in case North Korea or some other nation felt the urge to test us again? If that's what you call good strategy, then I really don't know [!@#$%^&*] about politics. But, you know, the more I think about that interview, the more often I keep coming back to his comments about the alt-right, calling them "clowns," or whatever. You know what that tells me (aside from the fact that Bannon needs to check himself into rehab)? It tells me he doesn't take a lot of what the alt-right does and says any more seriously than we do. Maybe he agrees with them, and maybe he doesn't, but above all else, he regards them as he regards everyone else: pawns, to be used, and then expunged, in his personal, sick power games. To put it another way: he isn't racist (maybe), he just exploits those who are -- which, in my eyes, makes him just as reprehensible, if not more so. Yeah. "Now comes the point in our show," I said as I read the article, "where we trot out some tokens to tell us all that Massa Trump is actually good peoples." As if hearing it from a handful of AA's will somehow make the rest of us go, "Okay." "Uncle Tom" might be an object of scorn to many who know the story. However, IRL, all the Uncle Toms still had a job to do, and a purpose for doing it. They bowed and scraped for their masters, because they knew there would come a day when their children and grandchildren wouldn't have to. What's Trump's so-called friends' excuse?

Sen. Corker's comments are...nice. However, I keep circling back to the same thoughts: it isn't enough for anyone from the GOP to condemn racism or racists...and frankly, now that I've had some more time to think about it, it isn't enough for them to condemn Trump directly either. At the risk of sounding even MORE like a broken record, the GOP are not entitled to be outraged by this man when they had been warned repeatedly about the perils that would await us with him as president and refused to neutralize him. They are as responsible for where we are this week as are Trump himself, the many cable and network news outlets who allotted him the airtime necessary to build his base through race-baiting, and even we who voted third-party or not at all. All of us from these groups need to share in the blame for this, and we all need to have a whole stadium full of seats and let the TRUE patriots -- the ones who bucked him at every turn, and the ones who set aside whatever issues they might have had and voted for Hillary -- figure a way out of this nightmare.

True. But I'd dissed and dismissed those peons eons ago. Their defense of Trump now makes no difference to me, one way or the other.

My fear is that it'll take something more than merely devastating -- yes, something like the Holocaust -- before the base even approaches that point.

You mean the obvious fake who says she CHOOSES to be straight?

Just...leaving these here: Descendants of Confederate generals on monuments: "Let it go" and... Even Lee wasn't having none of this!

Holy mother of God!!! Oh, and this, too: F**king Nazi Website Blocked from Russian Internet (Does this mean Putin and Trump's bromance is dead?)

Yup! I'm sure many from Trump Nation would read that Mother Jones article and insist they are not like "those people" who are placing fear and dread in the minds and hearts of POC from small towns. They are not racist, they would say, and they have no issue with POC who are living in the U.S. legally. But the problem is that, if you give them enough time, they WILL be like them. Give them enough time, and they, too, won't think twice about telling an African-American "you'll be [my slave] eventually," or a Hispanic that they're glad to see the government rounding up and deporting all the Hispanics (in many cases, separating parents and children), criminal record or no criminal record. When it comes to guarding the human heart against bigotry, even well-adjusted, well-meaning people rarely stay vigilant.

So, here's what I'm learning from reading the Steve Bannon stuff: 1) Steve Bannon sees this all as some sort of game ("Tear down more statues. Say the revolution is coming. I can't get enough of it.") and while that would be fine if this were a game of Risk.... 2) Trump's talk of "fire and fury" was, in fact, SOUND and fury, signifying that North Korea basically could've wiped us out, and still could. (I knew this already, but sometimes, the printed word hits hard.) It makes me think Kim Jong-un was falling dead with laughter (you know, like those "DEAD" gifs we post around these parts?) when he said he had decided to sit back and let Trump keep on bein' Trump. 3) Either Bannon is a gigantic moron ("How could you NOT know this could end up being published?") or a terrible liar ("Do you expect us to believe you didn't know?"). Either way, not smart. At the very least, this might be grounds for permanent exile from your favorite Risk Meetup group.

First of all, I want to say how delighted I was to see David Holt interviewed for the Peters/Martin/Healy NYT article. I've known David since we were in kindergarten. We served together in the Boy Scouts for a year. (I dropped out, because, c'mon, me in the Boy Scouts?) David is an incredibly astute individual, loving husband to Rachel, and father to George and Maggie. Although we might be on opposite sides of the political fence, I believe David is earnest, and honest, and takes seriously the needs and concerns of his constituents here in Oklahoma; and I hope that, in the years to come, he will be a tremendous asset to the Republican Party. Now, with that being said: if the GOP sees itself as being in a state of crisis, well, as I (and others) keep saying: they have themselves to blame. They were warned about the effects of a Trump presidency on this country. They were warned, and warned again. Nevertheless, they persisted. Even now, with voices from across the entire political spectrum condemning Trump's statements, and with so much at stake in terms of our security, our stability, and our reputation, they condemn racism, they condemn the Nazis who trade on it, but they will not condemn directly the elected leader who has now, with words spoken from the gilded tower that bears his name, sanctioned it. They won't condemn Trump outright, for fear of alienating his base supporters come next elections. Once again, they're placing party above country. Once again, they're sending the message to me and to people LIKE me they don't have our backs.

Cantwell must be some sort of prankster. I just cannot bring myself to believe a Nazi could be so...so...soft.

Well, Trump feels good about himself, and so do the white supremacists. All I can say is, stay safe, my fellow racial and ethnic minorities and POC. Because, Lord only knows what's gonna happen next.

ACK! The article won't appear in my browser!

Trump could care less what the rest of the world thinks of him. He's a racist and a misogynist, but so what? In his eyes, he is a winner, and everyone else is a loser. (Boy, did Papa Fred really do a number on his kid!) So, go ahead, call him whatever you like, pressure him however you want, but he's still the president and you're still...not. No, if Trump ever resigned, it'd be for one reason and one reason only: because doing so would mean the difference between remaining a free man or perhaps spending the rest of his life behind bars; and even then, I'm not so sure Trump wouldn't take his chances with the court.

You know, if and when Trump leaves the WH for the last time, I hope we can retire the term "fake news" to the bonfire with the Billie Jean souvenirs.

Wow. I think the ghost of George Lincoln Rockwell just said, "You ain't hard!"

Well, this isn't from the '90's, lol, but I'm sure this is what Trump meant by disbanding the Manufacturing Council and Strategy & Policy Forum:

Does this girl have her work cut out for her, OR WHAT? That is what's so deadly about racism: it doesn't always come out, draped in flags, giving hand salutes, telling everyone who is "an Other" to go back where they came from. Racism is like a weed that seeks to choke out the healthier plants that are tolerance, acceptance, enlightenment and love; and its seeds are carried in the hearts of all otherwise good men and women and their preconceptions and misconceptions of others who are not as they are.

To quote Oscar Hammerstein II, "you have to be taught to hate."

Good for the Black pundits, because, truthfully, this is about so much more than those damn statues. Trump opened that Pandora's box himself. Good, as well, for Wallace and Lemon. Being complicit to racism is as negligible as racism itself. No one working in the Trump administration can justify continuing to work for someone who is as prejudiced and intractable as that man. Not after yesterday. Stelter is right: if what happened was due to Trump's unhappiness with the media coverage over his initial remarks about Charlottesville, we can only imagine how he'll react to all of this. You know, I look at the footage from that press conference, and my mind can't help but recall that episode of "Good Times" where Penny's biological mother was busted for trying to make Willona appear to be a bad mother, via the very tape recorder she had bought for Penny as a present. Specifically, it's the one where Willona says, "That's you...ON TAPE!!". That's the truly funny/sad part: if Trump had achieved even half of what he vaguely promised to do during the election.... My own brother, an AFRICAN-AMERICAN, actually said, "Trump is my president!" He's going through a divorce, so I chose to let that slide.