The Shame and Disgrace Will Linger .......On Saturday, President Trump spread a conspiracy theory accusing the Clintons of murdering Jeffrey Epstein
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
August 10, 1969: SAN CLEMENTE, Calif.—President Nixon accused his predecessor Lyndon Baines Johnson of complicity in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Speaking with reporters on the first day of a 10-day stay at his Pacific Ocean vacation home ….
Of course, that never happened. Obviously. How could it, how dare it? But had it happened, such an accusation—by a president, against a former president—would have convulsed the United States and the world. Today, President Trump accused his predecessor, Bill Clinton—or possibly his 2016 campaign opponent, former First Lady and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton—of complicity in the death of the accused sex-trafficker, Jeffrey Epstein.
Many seem to have responded with a startled shrug. What do you expect? It’s just Trump letting off steam on Twitter.
Reactions to actions by Trump are always filtered through the prism of the ever-more-widely accepted view—within his administration, within Congress, within the United States and around the world—that the 45th president is a reckless buffoon, a conspiratorial racist moron, whose weird comments should be disregarded by sensible people.
By now, Trump’s party in Congress, the members of his Cabinet, and even his White House entourage all tacitly agree that Trump’s occupancy of the office held by Washington, Lincoln, FDR, and Eisenhower must be a bizarre cosmic joke, not to be taken seriously. CNN’s Jake Tapper on August 2 quoted a “senior national security official” as saying: "Everyone at this point ignores what the president says and just does their job. The American people should take some measure of confidence in that.”
Everybody at this point ignores what the president says.
So even though Trump just retweeted the comedian Terrence K. Williams accusing the Clinton family of murder, the people who work for Trump may ignore that, too. They know that the president punches the retweet button like an addled retiree playing the slots through a fog of painkillers means nothing. The days of “ taking Trump seriously, not literally ” have long-since passed. By this point, Trump is taken neither seriously nor literally. His words are as worthless as Trump Organization IOUs.
But cosmic joke or no cosmic joke, Donald Trump is the president of the United States. You may not like it. I don’t like it. Mike Pompeo doesn’t like it. Mitch McConnell doesn’t like it. Kevin McCarthy doesn’t like it. But it’s still a fact, and each succeeding outrage makes it no less a fact. Grinning and flashing a thumbs-up over an orphaned baby? Yes, still president. Tweeting that a third-tier dictator has threatened him with more missile tests unless he halts military exercises with a U.S. ally——and that he has surrendered to that blackmail? Shamefully, still president. Accusing a former U.S. president of murder? It’s incredible, it’s appalling, it’s humiliating … but, yes, he is the president all the same.
Trump’s circle probably expects the world to sputter for a while and then be distracted by some new despicable statement or act. That is how it has gone for nearly three years, and that is how it is likely still to go. Trump is steering the U.S. and the world into a trade war and perhaps a financial crisis and recession along with it. He is wrecking the structure of U.S. alliances in Asia and his rhetoric is inciting shooting rampages against minorities. Compared to that, mere slurs and insults perhaps weigh lighter in the crushing dumpster-load of Trump’s output of unfitness for the office he holds.
But it shouldn’t be forgotten, either, in the onrush of events. The certainty that Trump will descend ever deeper into sub-basements of “new lows” after this new low should not numb us to its newness and lowness.
Neither the practical impediments to impeachment and the Twenty-Fifth Amendment process, nor the foibles and failings of the candidates running to replace him, efface the fact that this presidency shames and disgraces the office every minute of every hour of every day. And even when it ends, however it ends, the shame will stain it still.
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Well now we know for sure that Trump and as good number of forum participants think alike.
On another thread, "conservative" after "conservative" claimed there had to be a murder conspiracy because Epstein was "on suicide watch". Turns out he wasnt on suicide watch. How many of those conservatives will retract what they said to me and others?
We cant have a good and decent country when the president of the United States is a god damn conspiracy nut.
Well, that's what the initial news reports claimed. Moreover, it was perfectly reasonable to assume that a man who just tried to kill himself in prison, would in fact be on suicide watch. Seems like watching someone who just tried to kill themselves would be the purpose of "suicide watch."
How many Democratic Presidential candidates tweeted yesterday that Michael Brown was murdered? 5 years later and the conspiracy mongering still lives strong on the left.
Going by this seed and the comments, all we can say is that Trumpsters are proud and happy that their president shames and embarrasses the country every day.
What Trump spreads could fertilize every lawn in the US.
And a few other large countries around the world. However, they likely would not accept the donation due to the extreme foul order of the seriously contaminating substance.
I think he's trolling. He doesn't seem to be serious. Although maybe after the feds investigate, who knows?
By the way #ClintonBodyCount was trending massively on Twitter, so he's not even close to being the only one. Retweeting stuff like this might be an effective tactic for picking up votes. There are some good ones in there.
Also by the way, the Twitter police were clearly trying to scrub it and replace it with "TrumpBodyCount" and other less popular tags. The numbers for Clinton were way higher and yet Twitter's algorithm was favoring the anti-Trump hashtag.
So you admit that trump has the maturity of a 12 year old...got it. You must be so proud.
Why would that be? Are you trying to say something personal about me? I'm pretty sure I'm not the topic.
The president of the United States is trolling. And you think thats just fine?
The properly asked question is "Do you think that's just fine?" The answer is "no." However, I don't think it's the hair-pulling, teeth-gnashing, end-of-the-world situation that some people do. I wish he wouldn't do it, but he's going to do it whether I wish it or not. That should be clear by now.
[Deleted] You're not alone, I'll give you that much.
removed for context
List of conspiracies that trump has touted, (and many of his base believe every fucking one of them).
Tin foil sales must be way up.
So where is the left's indignation for these conspiracy theorists? Including on Democratic Presidential hopeful.
Right out of the script for " House of Cards ".
Stoop as low as possible to deflect and play the blame game. Scapegoats are easy when he only uses 3 of them, Hillary/Clinton, Obama and the Media.
Locked. Absent author and many threads are more meta than on topic.