From The Atlantic:
America’s Lowest Standard
Try to imagine anyone like Trump surviving in any other segment of our society—business, entertainment, sports, the military.
By Charles Sykes
I dunno.
I can very easily imagine Donald Trump not just surviving but thriving in both Conservative media and in Republican politics, because Trump did and does thrive in both Conservative media and in Republican politics.
And you know who else thrived in both Conservative media and in Republican politics?
Charlie Sykes.
For thirty years.
Where he and Rush Limbaugh and all of their hundreds of Hate Radio and Fox
News brethren and sistren across the land labored mightily(and profitably)
making the Republican party into the perfect feeding ground for a lying,
racist thug like Donald Trump.
Also apparently Mr. Sykes is unfamiliar with the number of misogynist scumbags and techbro Libertarians who have been doing just fine at the pinnacle of American business since forever.
Or the number of high-profile television executives and celebrities who have been outed recently as a depraved sexual predators. Some, like Bill O'Reilly, Roger Ailes, Eric Bolling, Mark Halperin, Harvey Weinstein, Leslie Roy Moonves, Matt Lauer, Charlie Rose, and on and on and on, lost their jobs over it. Other suexual predators like, say, Donald Trump, was nominated and elected by Charlie Sykes' recently-former party.
I'm not sure which category disgraced Lincoln Project co-founder John Weaver or still-employed sex pest Matt Schlapp or Don Jr.'s squeeze Kimberly Guilfoyle fall into, but they have certainly each been successful in their own right
Next Gingrich is undoubtedly one of the all-around worst human beings walking the Earth, and he was made Speaker of the House by Charlie Sykes' recently-former party back before it was Sykes' recently-former party.
Tom Delay? Ring any bells? Anyone?
And "sports"? No one like Trump could succeed in "sports"? Are you fucking kidding me, Mr. Sykes? Or are you only counting curling and pro-am badminton as "sports"?
In fact, the whole predicate of the column is so aggressively myopic and profoundly stupid, I'm stunned that it wasn't the lead op-ed at The New York Times.
4 comments:
>>> In fact, the whole predicate of the column is so aggressively myopic and profoundly stupid, I'm stunned that it wasn't the lead op-ed at The New York Times.
Maybe he's practicing. The Times probably pays better than MSNBC, and David Brooks has already "cracked the mountain ramparts" (sorry Stan Rogers) to show that professionalized incompetence (aka malicious lying) is a totally viable long-term career path there.
Howdy DG and BG! I'll listen to this week's cast as soon as I can. In the meantime, happy Friday!
Me again. (That guy AGAIN?!)
Divine Dog, Sykes' article gets so much worse as you read.
>>> No publicly traded company would consider naming Trump to an executive position, or even to a position on its board.
Right?! No way a gigantic medical corporation would have a serial fraudster as its CEO, I mean really!!! Oh. Wait.
>>>Even in our debased political culture, the cascade of rape allegations and indictments would force Trump’s resignation as a senator, governor, or legislator.
Well, I suppose this next example might lean in the direction of Sykes being right. At least the TN rep did resign, though only after unignorable proof of his abuses came out of an investigation. Any bets on whether Campbell is alone in this sort of behavior, or whether the Speaker (Sexton) was aware of Campbell's behavior well before it became public?
>>>It’s impossible to imagine him being given any position of authority at any school or university in the United States.
Absolutely, Mr. Sykes. It is utterly and indisputably impossible that a lawyer who wrote White House guidance approving and encouraging the use of actual torture would ever have a lengthy and highly successful academic career following such behavior. Never happen. Oh. Wait.
>>>At this point, the Senate would be unlikely to confirm Trump’s appointment to any other position of trust. Someone with Trump’s character would not be granted a security clearance at any level of government.
"At this point" is doing a lot of work here, because Mr. Sykes, you know as well as we do that if the Senate were under Republican control, they'd gladly hand Trump every expansion of Executive power he asked for (pardon, demanded). They'd hand it to him on a silver platter. So spare me your "the Senate" crap. You mean Democrats wouldn't bow to Trump's whims. Which segues nicely into our next point:
>>>We wouldn’t let the man babysit our children or even walk the dog. We would definitely not buy a used car from the guy. But we might give him back the nuclear codes and control over the military, the FBI, the CIA, the IRS, and the Department of Justice. Americans might make him, once again, the face of America.
Finally, Mr. Sykes, you have made, with important qualification, a correct observation. Strictly speaking, the bolded sentence is correct; but the Americans you're talking about have an additional important designation: they're all Republican voters.
Now... hmm, a memory arises. I'm thinking of a name, a moderately well-known name, especially in the midwest, like, uh... Wisconsin! The name of a widely-known conservative radio show host who spent decades of effort several days a week, cultivating those Republican voters into a rage-driven electoral war vehicle with questionable guidance systems and absolutely no emergency safety overrides.
Who was that radio host, Mr. Sykes? Why, it was Mr. Charlie Sykes! How remarkable!
Thanks for all you do, DG and BG.
That isn't the white headgear I normally picture Mr. Sykes wearing.
Jon, The part of the fraud that Scott and the company he worked for engaged in, was that he and his company stole the money from we the people of United States of America. We the tax paying people. This and this alone is the real damage the rich and their corporations have been doing for 100 years or more. They steal the money we give to our Government and in return we don't have the money to help our country and ourselves. The republicans now in our Government continue to help them steal and to partake in the lies and propaganda to cover for their actions.
If that sounds redundant it is but not by the fact that it never gets said out loud so people can hear it. Because Trump and the rest will all be gone but the theft of our money for our country will continue by the rich. The Billionaires, multimillionaires and the rest will just send more Trumps, Scotts and their ilk to our government to continue to steal for them. And people will continue to believe that the rich and super rich are soooo smart..."How else could the make so much money?" That fucking refrain never stops, it seems.
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