They'd been de-platformed by society for almost a generation - and on balance, that worked pretty well with respect to not seeing any confederate coup attempts. I do think that the biden admin fucked the pooch with the whole big lie thing. The big lie isn't that he won the election. The big lie is that his base are victimized whites - a stolen election just one more thing.

I run "NewsMix" on DirecTV. This has resulted in my seeing much more Fux News over the past few months than I'd see over my entire time on cable, dating back to the '80s. One thing I noticed was what they must things as cleverly worded snippets/headlines/etc.

"Hunter Biden questioned by Feds!" If you only watched that channel or it's sisters-in-sin you'd come away with proof positive that Hunter was one step outside a jail cell.

People who only read "above the fold"* would jump to that conclusion easily and happily.

*Archaic term for reading on the top half of a newspaper's front page.

Well, Hunter Biden seems to have issues. Drug addiction, poor judgment, questionable ethics. It wouldn't surprise me if some DA found something on him if they look hard enough.

But that won't make me believe a Fox News headline.

(January 18, 2021 at 7:22 pm)HappySkeptic Wrote: Well, Hunter Biden seems to have issues.  Drug addiction, poor judgment, questionable ethics.  It wouldn't surprise me if some DA found something on him if they look hard enough.

I still think he's probably far less of a douche than either Don Jr or Eric Trump.

Anyway, that's part of the problem when you reach the top of the hill; especially in politics: someone is going to look hard enough.  If you or the people close to you cant withstand every aspect of your life being magnified and scrutinized, you should rethink being involved in presidential politics.  So far, Biden seems to be able to handle it alright; Trump, when one question came up, whined like a baby that there was a witch hunt and he was treated more unfairly than any president, ever.

(January 18, 2021 at 8:37 pm)TaraJo Wrote:

(January 18, 2021 at 7:22 pm)HappySkeptic Wrote: Well, Hunter Biden seems to have issues.  Drug addiction, poor judgment, questionable ethics.  It wouldn't surprise me if some DA found something on him if they look hard enough.

I still think he's probably far less of a douche than either Don Jr or Eric Trump.

Anyway, that's part of the problem when you reach the top of the hill; especially in politics: someone is going to look hard enough.  If you or the people close to you cant withstand every aspect of your life being magnified and scrutinized, you should rethink being involved in presidential politics.  So far, Biden seems to be able to handle it alright; Trump, when one question came up, whined like a baby that there was a witch hunt and he was treated more unfairly than any president, ever.

If there is anything about moneyed privilege that tells something about someone, being a whiny little bitch when people complain about one's actions tops the list. I forget the name of the guy who calls the chump that, but it's so true. If I screw up, I 'fess up and say, aw, shit, sorry. I don't act like I'm persecuted.

(January 18, 2021 at 9:09 pm)Fireball Wrote:

(January 18, 2021 at 8:37 pm)TaraJo Wrote: I still think he's probably far less of a douche than either Don Jr or Eric Trump.

Anyway, that's part of the problem when you reach the top of the hill; especially in politics: someone is going to look hard enough.  If you or the people close to you cant withstand every aspect of your life being magnified and scrutinized, you should rethink being involved in presidential politics.  So far, Biden seems to be able to handle it alright; Trump, when one question came up, whined like a baby that there was a witch hunt and he was treated more unfairly than any president, ever.

If there is anything about moneyed privilege that tells something about someone, being a whiny little bitch when people complain about one's actions tops the list. I forget the name of the guy who calls the chump that, but it's so true. If I screw up, I 'fess up and say, aw, shit, sorry. I don't act like I'm persecuted.

Honestly, he leaves me with more concerns about his tremendous ego and an extreme lack of awareness/intelligence if he thinks he can be president and not be criticized.  I mean, seriously, have we ever had a president who wasn't questioned?  William Henry Harrison, maybe, but that would only be because he died 31 days in.

(January 18, 2021 at 11:07 pm)TaraJo Wrote:

(January 18, 2021 at 9:09 pm)Fireball Wrote: If there is anything about moneyed privilege that tells something about someone, being a whiny little bitch when people complain about one's actions tops the list. I forget the name of the guy who calls the chump that, but it's so true. If I screw up, I 'fess up and say, aw, shit, sorry. I don't act like I'm persecuted.

Honestly, he leaves me with more concerns about his tremendous ego and an extreme lack of awareness/intelligence if he thinks he can be president and not be criticized.  I mean, seriously, have we ever had a president who wasn't questioned?  William Henry Harrison, maybe, but that would only be because he died 31 days in.

As you know, he got sick and died before he could see any complaints.

(January 19, 2021 at 12:15 am)Fireball Wrote:

(January 18, 2021 at 11:07 pm)TaraJo Wrote: Honestly, he leaves me with more concerns about his tremendous ego and an extreme lack of awareness/intelligence if he thinks he can be president and not be criticized.  I mean, seriously, have we ever had a president who wasn't questioned?  William Henry Harrison, maybe, but that would only be because he died 31 days in.

As you know, he got sick and died before he could see any complaints.

Oh, yeah, I know.  Honestly, had Trump dropped dead before 2020, there would be a LOT less complaints about him.  That was the year where he seemed to go out of his way to make sure everyone knew he was a complete train wreck, crashing into a dumpster fire.

(January 19, 2021 at 10:01 pm)TaraJo Wrote:

(January 19, 2021 at 12:15 am)Fireball Wrote: As you know, he got sick and died before he could see any complaints.

Oh, yeah, I know.  Honestly, had Trump dropped dead before 2020, there would be a LOT less complaints about him.  That was the year where he seemed to go out of his way to make sure everyone knew he was a complete train wreck, crashing into a dumpster fire.

By 2020 he had done so many things and gotten away with them that 2020 was just him seeing how far he could push things.  He stopped "presidenting" when he realized COVID didn't give a damn about his threats and insults.  I just wish he'd have stepped over the line in the sand a while back.  Things would have been a whole lot different if his goons would have stormed The Capitol six or so months ago.

(January 19, 2021 at 10:07 pm)arewethereyet Wrote:

(January 19, 2021 at 10:01 pm)TaraJo Wrote: Oh, yeah, I know.  Honestly, had Trump dropped dead before 2020, there would be a LOT less complaints about him.  That was the year where he seemed to go out of his way to make sure everyone knew he was a complete train wreck, crashing into a dumpster fire.

By 2020 he had done so many things and gotten away with them that 2020 was just him seeing how far he could push things.  He stopped "presidenting" when he realized COVID didn't give a damn about his threats and insults.  I just wish he'd have stepped over the line in the sand a while back.  Things would have been a whole lot different if his goons would have stormed The Capitol six or so months ago.

Oh, I'm not saying he was ever a good president.  He wasn't.  He's going to be the reason future generations don't have to debate who the worst president was.

But before 2020, there wasn't covid which he failed to deal with and actually worked against efforts to control.  Honestly, I don't know if I could have handled covid worse if I tried.

2020 was also when race riots started up again and his words and actions only made them worse.  

Screeching about voter fraud for the last two months of 2020 was just the icing on the cake, especially when he lost every single court case he brought forth about it.

You want to know the other scary thing?  Trump, with one simple change, could have turned re-election into a cake walk.  All he had to do was take covid seriously from the start.  Americans tend to rally around their president in times of crisis.  Remember how Dubya had 90% approval ratings right after 9/11?  Trump could have had something like that if he had treated it like an actual crisis.  I suppose his own failure saved us from his future failures.