Political Theatre category archive

Trudy Rubin is not impressed by Donald Trump’s belief that he can solve international issues with glad-handing a flattery. A snippet:

The only leaders Trump appears unwilling to flatter are our longtime democratic allies – notably Canada, France, Germany, and Britain – whom he treated so shabbily at the G-7 summit in Quebec earlier this month. Who needs allies when Trump is so certain he can win over adversaries by bonding with strongmen?

Any progress with North Korea will require a big dose of realism and a determination to “distrust but verify.” Unlikely, so long as Trump keeps fooling himself and his base.

Follow the link to read why she said that.

At Psychology Today Blogs, David Feldman offers a guide to understanding the Trump administration.

(Open tag fixed.)

In related news, after more that two decades at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Rob Rogers has been fired by its publisher for daring the criticize God-Emperor Trump.

Markos Kounalakis muses on Donald Trump’s fascination with all things dictatorial.

. . . the Comeyuppance.

In related news, Shaun Mullin has a detailed analysis of the Comeyuppance and related matters.

Steven M. points out that, as far as news coverage across the political spectrum goes, on the one hand, there is often no other hand. He uses coverage of Steve King and Corey Stewart (who won the Republican Senatorial nomination in Virginia after a Trumpling campaign), as examples.

An excerpt:

If the media favored by liberals and centrists in America worked the way the right-wing media works, King would be a household name by now, notorious across America for his racism. If we had media with the reach of talk radio and Fox News that made every King outburst the subject of round-the-clock stories for days, his extremism would be widely recognized in America. He’d be famous (or infamous). As it is, he’s known to Iowans and to politically engaged lefties. The rest of the country is barely aware that he exists.

Dick Polman discusses why Republican Congresspersons won’t stand up to Donald Trump, using Mark “Applachian Trail” Sandford’s primary loss in South Carolina as a starting point. A nugget:

This is why rank-and-file Republican lawmakers refuse to speak out. They’re afraid of their own constituents. It’s Trump’s party now, and the constituents in red districts virtually worship the guy. Forget about putting country over party, because it’s actually worse than that. Sanford’s colleagues won’t put country over career. They’ll vow that what just happened to Sanford will not happen to them.

He goes on to quote Erick son of Erick, who said, “Mark Sanford losing in South Carolina is pretty much proof positive that the GOP is not really a conservative party that cares about limited government. It is now fully a cult of personality.”

Nickolas Kristoff explains how Kim Jong-Un plated Donald Trump like a drum. A snippet:

Within North Korea, the “very special bond” that Trump claimed to have formed with Kim will be portrayed this way: Kim forced the U.S. president, through his nuclear and missile tests, to accept North Korea as a nuclear equal, to provide security guarantees to North Korea, and to cancel war games with South Korea that the North has protested for decades.

In exchange for these concessions, Trump seems to have won astonishingly little. In a joint statement, Kim merely “reaffirmed” the same commitment to denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula that North Korea has repeatedly made since 1992.

In the wake of the comeuppance of Roseanne Barr, Above the Law’s Evan Gibbs and Alex Lilly offer a detailed look at “freedom of speech” as a Constitutional civil liberty vs. freedom of speech in the workplace. They point out that, whereas “Congress shall make no law . . .,” employers are generally free to regulate employees’ behavior on the job and on the property, though there may be a trend to loosen employer’s rights.

In the light of all the garbage spewn about freedom of speech, what it is, who has it, and where it can be practiced, the article is a worthwhile read.

Afterthought:

Stupid and malicious is as dangerous as smart and malicious.

Image via Job’s Anger.

The veneer begins to slip.

Shaun Mullen.

And, in more terrible news of the terrible seventy-twos . . . .