Political Theatre category archive
Jonesing the Idiocracy 0
Tony Norman tries to make sense of Megan Kelly’s decision to have Alex Jones on her NBC television snow job show.
Remember, NBC is the network that gave you Donald Trump’s various Apprentices and is arguably responsible for the creating the myth that he knows what the hell he is doing.
(Spoiler Alert: Norman can’t make sense of it, because there’s no sense to be made.)
“I Wouldn’t Want Anything Bad To Happen To Your Nice Little Treaty Organization” 0
Noz on the Trumpling of NATO:
Follow the link for his reasoning.
Misdirection Play, Comeyuppance Department, Reprise 2
Dick Polman marvels at the strategies the Trumpettes are using to try to discredit James Comey.
The resident curmudgeon at my local rag opted for Number Three on Polman’s list.
Aside:
Oh, man, when I picked up the paper after getting a cuppa yesterday morning, I wondered to myself, “Is she really crazed enough to go there?” and, by jingo, she is and she did.
Misdirection Play, Comeyuppance Department 0
Joe Patrice looks at Trump’s lawyer’s threat to sue James Comey for “leaking” and explains why there’s no there there.
The Comeyuppance 0
Yesterday, I didn’t pay much attention to James Comey’s testimony or the coverate thereof. It fqlls into my personal category of “I’ll read about it tomorrow” news. I’m also not going to dig into it today, as others far more qualified than I (particularly Josh Marshall) are giving it rivers of electrons.
Nevertheless, I commend to you Elie Mystal’s prediction of that Jeff Sessions will be next domino to fall.
All the News That Fits 0
Jonathan Bernstein points out that news outlets that lean right are often preaching to the choir, even when there’s no there there. A snippet (emphasis added):
Trump on Monday held a mock signing ceremony for his decision to endorse privatizing air traffic control.
EPA administrator Scott Pruitt has been touting 50,000 new coal jobs that turn out to be closer to 1,000 new coal jobs.
The accomplishments of the Trump administration have a knack for turning out to be hollow — this week has been a pretty brutal reminder of that, and it’s early. But how does it affect Trump’s ability to govern?
(snip)
On the other hand, it’s probably true that Trump has successfully convinced a lot of people who get their news mostly or entirely from Republican-aligned outlets that he’s having one fabulous success after another, so for example a CBS survey last month found 95 percent of strong Trump supporters think he’s “effective.” The problem is that catering only to hard-core partisans is pretty useless for a president, because those folks are going to buy whatever he’s selling regardless of what it might be.