RIP, Colin Powell
-
From the RWEC:
The best take on this I’ve seen came from a Twitter pal who simply posted a side-by-side of the commemorations of Powell issued by Jimmy Carter, George Bush, Barack Obama, and Trump. All you need to understand the Trump phenomenon is in that tweet. A third of the country will revel in the fact that 45 was willing to speak his mind about a political enemy at a moment when polite society was demanding that tribute be paid. Trump doesn’t stand at attention just because the political establishment tells him to.
The other two-thirds of the country will share a look not unlike the one you’d share with a friend if someone nearby ripped a nasty wet fart.
As brief as this is, it’s a classic of its genre because of how succinctly it summarizes Trump’s approach to people. There’s nothing in here about the election being rigged but apart from that it’s him to a T.
It’s gratuitous since he wasn’t obliged to say anything about Powell’s passing. It’s narcissistic, turning Powell’s death into a complaint about Trump’s critics. It’s petty in that it’s unwilling to honor Powell’s accomplishments, of which there were many. It’s obsessed with media coverage, particularly how other figures are covered relative to how Trump himself is. And it’s dishonest inasmuch as Trump doesn’t actually care about the Iraq WMD debacle or Powell’s role in it. That was the low point of Powell’s public service and so it’s cited here opportunistically, to bolster Trump’s case against Powell to the reader. To 45, there’s only one test of a man’s value: Was he pro-Trump or anti-Trump?If Powell had supported him, Iraq would have been forgotten and Trump would have celebrated his career. Instead Powell was prone to saying things like this, requiring that Trump kick the coffin like he kicked John McCain’s and John Dingell’s. As his favorite Bible verse says: An eye for an eye. Even in death.
That’s another way in which the statement is true to its author. Presented here with a free, easy opportunity to earn a little goodwill from his skeptics by taking the high road with Powell, he couldn’t do it. Although he’s likely to run again in 2024 and will need to rebuild his appeal with swing voters who were disgusted by how his presidency ended, he couldn’t play the elder statesman by offering a few sweet nothings about the late general even as a matter of political self-interest. That’s his 2020 election strategy all over again, less concerned with persuading voters who were leery of him than with getting his own base as hyped as they could be to turn out and vote.
No one will remember his statement about Powell three days from now but little reminders like this that he hasn’t changed a tiny bit since leaving office are useful to his opponents in both parties. To get reelected, he needs voters to agree to endure another four years of daily fart-smelling antics like this. By 2024, I strongly suspect most of the country will prefer to be governed by Republican policies than by Democratic ones but the relentless cringe fatigue that another Trump term would bring to the population will cost him votes. Enough votes to lose? I don’t know. But it’ll cost him votes that a Ron DeSantis or Mike Pence would easily bank.
"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
-
Success is measured by your discipline and inner peace. – Mike Ditka
-
@catseye3 said in RIP, Colin Powell:
@george-k said in RIP, Colin Powell:
To get reelected, he needs voters to agree to endure another four years of daily fart-smelling antics like this.
Vital to remember.
To get reelected, he needs voters to agree to endure another four years of daily fart-smelling antics like this
Actually, he needs voters to forget about this.
"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
-
@george-k said in RIP, Colin Powell:
Vital to remember.
To get reelected, he needs voters to agree to endure another four years of daily fart-smelling antics like this.
Actually, he needs voters to forget about this.
Ah, right. I was thinking of the rest of us.
-
@klaus said in RIP, Colin Powell:
You'd rather saw off a feat of yours than saying anything even remotely critical of Trump, don't you Jolly?
Nah, but the street flows both ways. Nobody criticized Powell for taking a shot at Trump. No, people ballyhooed the statement.
Was Trump being an ass? Yeppers. Was he being vindictive. Yep.
But until coverage is meted out fairly, it doesn't bother me tremendously. And as my grocery bill climbs, as I pay more at the pump and as we receive more mandates from Washington Central Planning, I find myself missing ol' DJT more and more.
Warts and all.
Always remember, Operation Valkyrie was an act of sedition.
Warning: I post things that interest me. Read and comment at your own discretion. -
@doctor-phibes said in RIP, Colin Powell:
He even thinks Powell dying should be about him.
That guy is damaged.
People make hay about TDS but nobody’s Trump obsession is as strong or as deranged as Trump’s obsession with himself.
-
@jolly said in RIP, Colin Powell:
Nah, but the street flows both ways. Nobody criticized Powell for taking a shot at Trump. No, people ballyhooed the statement.
Are you really incapable of seeing the difference between having a go at a politician who is still alive, and somebody who has just died?
If you take away the warts, what are you left with?
It's also worth asking what on earth Trump hoped to gain by making this pronouncement. Do you think he won over any voters?
Yeah, I know. Stupid like a fox.
-
@doctor-phibes said in RIP, Colin Powell:
What Trump said wasn't just impolite. Impolite is belching during the funeral. He took a shit in Powell's casket.
Trump also eloquently used the phrase "but anyway", which brought his narrative from a 3rd grade grudge to a 5th grade grudge.
-
@jolly said in RIP, Colin Powell:
@klaus said in RIP, Colin Powell:
You'd rather saw off a feat of yours than saying anything even remotely critical of Trump, don't you Jolly?
Nah, but the street flows both ways. Nobody criticized Powell for taking a shot at Trump. No, people ballyhooed the statement.
Was Trump being an ass? Yeppers. Was he being vindictive. Yep.
But until coverage is meted out fairly, it doesn't bother me tremendously. And as my grocery bill climbs, as I pay more at the pump and as we receive more mandates from Washington Central Planning, I find myself missing ol' DJT more and more.
Warts and all.
LOL you think he could've controlled any of that?
At some point you'll look back and realized you turned a blind eye to the worst of the worst characters to ever hold the high office. I've said many times before, imagine Obama tried doing/saying the same things in 2012 had he lost to McCain. If Obama fired the FBI director investigating him, if Obama was impeached twice, if Obama refused to accept the election results where he lost in the landslide. You would've called out the idiocy. But since Trump wears a red hat...
BTW do you think Powell would've insulted Trump a few days after his death, had the roles been reversed?
For the record, Powell's "shot at trump" was quite accurate, presuming that's what you're referring to.
-
Dude, I don't care what they say. Pols say anything. I care about what they do.
If you want somebody to blow smoke up your ass, D.C. is full of them.
Jo-jo the senile boy, just told you that the ports would be running in L.A. What happened? Nithing this past weekend. But Joe sounded good...
Always remember, Operation Valkyrie was an act of sedition.
Warning: I post things that interest me. Read and comment at your own discretion. -
Am I just getting older, or is the bar for acceptable candidates getting much lower?
I just don't understand how... 3 years out from a Presidential election, Trump is seen as a desirable candidate by a significant portion of the electorate.
Feels like we should be able to do better out of 350M people...
The guy is a dumpster fire of a human - and his political positions are vanilla, if a bit crude (cut taxes, incentivize domestic industry, subsidize strategic industries, enforce border laws... that's like 90% of it).
He's not some magical policy unicorn that we should sacrifice all human norms to get access to.
I really don't see the appeal besides the desire to watch Trump throw feces at the libs.
-
@xenon said in RIP, Colin Powell:
I just don't understand how... 3 years out from a Presidential election, Trump is seen as a desirable candidate by a significant portion of the electorate.
Some snips from https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/573036-poll-biden-trump-statistically-tied-in-favorability on a September CAPS/Harris poll:
"President Biden and former President Trump are statistically tied when it comes to their favorability among U.S. voters, according to a new Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll survey shared exclusively with The Hill on Monday.
"The findings are a remarkable shift for Biden, who repeatedly outperformed Trump’s favorability numbers throughout the early months of his presidency.
"But multiple crises, including a surge in new COVID-19 infections in recent months and the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, have bruised public perceptions of Biden.
" . . . Biden saw his biggest drops in approval on his handling of foreign affairs and his administration’s efforts to combat terrorism. In both matters, his approval dropped 13 points since July."
^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^So it may be that Biden has dropped down to Trump, rather than support growing for Trump. At least, according to this article.
And it may also be that Americans are saying a pox on both of them, and only time will tell whether that perception shifts.
It may be that Biden will hand off the presidency to Trump like a football, the way he's going.
-
I would not vote for him again. If the GOP runs Trump again it means they have no principles whatsoever except winning.
And his statement on Powell's death is unsurprisingly boorish. Enough already.
What he has shown us though is that his policies were for the most part on point. We need to keep that.
-
@jolly said in RIP, Colin Powell:
Between Trump and Biden, I'd vote for Trump.
Yeah, but your current choice isn't between Trump and Biden, it's between Trump and a bunch of other Republicans. Do you seriously think that Donald Trump is the best that the GOP has to offer?
