Biden, Trump and the uneven politics of outrage
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Playing multiple rounds of golf in the midst of a pandemic; circulating tweets mocking the physical appearance of some of the most prominent female Democrats in the country; saying his opponent "doesn't know he's alive"; promoting an unspecified and unsubstantiated conspiracy theory he calls "Obamagate"; threatening to move the Republican National Convention if the governor can't promise a "fully occupied" arena this summer; demanding that schools and churches reopen regardless of state-level guidance; spreading a baseless claim that Democrats are seeking to "rig" the election; questioning the mental fitness of his former attorney general; and suggesting without evidence that a cable host he has feuded with was involved in the death of a former aide.
For all that, Democrats found their political weekend consumed by an interview former Vice President Joe Biden gave Friday where he said African-Americans considering voting for Trump "ain't black." Within hours, Biden said he regretted having said that; Trump has not said the same about anything he said or tweeted over the weekend.
It's the latest example of a dynamic Republicans have learned to relish and Democrats can't help but lament.
Trump says and does so many outrageous things with such regularity that most blur past the news cycle too fast for him to even be asked to explain himself, much less apologize. Biden says and does so few things these days -- period -- that each takes on outsized importance.
Democrats saw Biden's comment dissected in endless cable-news panels and op-eds. It now looms over his search for a running mate.
Biden's first public appearance in two months -- he wore a mask, while Trump has not when reporters' cameras are present -- points toward a resumption of campaign activity on his side. Trump, of course, has already been in something close to campaign mode for weeks.
Even if Biden matches Trump in campaign output -- which isn't likely anytime soon -- he still is likely to see a different set of standards applied to him by his own party than Trump will have applied to him by his.
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The issue with Trumps re-election has always been one thing. Will his monumental dishonesty, stupidity and assholeishness be "normalized" which would allow people to feel justified in voting for him again. Because of Trump's base, which relishes his dishonest abnormality, this is a daily struggle.
Trump's base enjoys his ridiculous and often anti-social behavior, and that is on them , and not on the rest of us.
As a nation , we cannot accept Donald Trump. It is , quite simply, un American.
For days Trump has been implying/alleging on twitter that a woman who died 19 years ago was murdered by one of Trump's critics, the talk show host Joe Scarborough.
Recently the dead woman's husband wrote a letter to the head of Twitter.
Jack Dorsey, CEO
Twitter Inc.
1355 Market Street
Suite 900
San Francisco, California 94103
Via email: jack@twitter.com
Mr.Dorsey:
Nearly 19 years ago, my wife, who had an undiagnosed heart condition, fell and hit
her head on her desk at work. She was found dead the next morning. Her name is
Lori Kaye Klausutis and she was 28 years old when she died. Her passing is the single
most painful thing that I have ever had to deal with in my 52 years and continues to
haunt her parents and sister.
I have mourned my wife every day since her passing. I have tried to honor her
memory and our marriage. As her husband, I feel that one of my marital obligations is
to protect her memory as I would have protected her in life. There has been a
constant barrage of falsehoods, half-truths, innuendo and conspiracy theories since
the day she died. I realize that may sound like an exaggeration, unfortunately it is the
verifiable truth. Because of this, I have struggled to move forward with my life.
The frequency, intensity, ugliness, and promulgation of these horrifying lies ever
increases on the internet. These conspiracy theorists, including most recently the
President of the United States, continue to spread their bile and misinformation on
your platform disparaging the memory of my wife and our marriage. President Trump
on Tuesday tweeted to his nearly 80 million followers alluding to the repeatedly
debunked falsehood that my wife was murdered by her boss, former U.S. Rep. Joe
Scarborough. The son of the president followed and more directly attacked my wife
by tweeting to his followers as the means of spreading this vicious lie.
I’m sure you are aware of this situation because media around the world have covered
it, but just in case, here it is:
21May2020
Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
When will they open a Cold Case on the Psycho Joe
Scarborough matter in Florida. Did he get away with
murder? Somepeople think so. Why did he leave
Congress so quietly and quickly ? Isn't it obvious? What's
happening now ? A total nutjob !
3:54 AM May 12, 2020 Twitter foriPhone
Donald J. Trump
@realDonald Trump Donald Trump Jr. ... ·
What show is Joe going to go on to
discuss Lori Klausutis ?
MSNBC Public Rel...
" Concast" should open up a long
overdue Florida Cold Case against
Psycho Joe Scarborough. I know
him and Crazy Mika well used
them beautifully in the last
Election, dumped them nicely, and
will state on the record that he is
"nuts".Besides,bad ratings!
#OPENJOECOLDCASE
Tomorrow in a @Morning_Joe
exclusive, former Vice
President@JoeBiden joins
, @morningmika &
@WillieGeist to respond for t ...
779 4,993
5:38 AM Twitter for iPhone
My request is simple: Please delete these tweets.
I am a research engineer and not a lawyer, but reviewed all of Twitter's rules and
terms of service. The President's tweet that suggests that Lori was murdered
without evidence and contrary to the official autopsy)—is a violation of Twitter's
community rules and terms of service. An ordinary user like me would be banished
from the platform for such a tweet but I am only asking that these tweets be removed.
I am now angry as well as frustrated and grieved . I understand that Twitter's policies
about content are designed to maintain the appearance that your hands are clean
you provide the platform and the rest is up to users. However, in certain past cases,
Twitter has removed content and accounts that are inconsistent with your terms of
service.
I'm asking you to intervene in this instance because the President of the United States
has taken something that does not belong him — the memory of my dead wife
and perverted it for perceived political gain . I would also ask that you consider Lori's
niece and two nephews who will eventually come across this filth in the future. They
have never met their Aunt and it pains me to think they would ever have to
about her this way.
My wife deserves better.
Thank you for your consideration . I look forward to hearing from you soon .
Sincerely,
Timothy J. Klausutis, Ph.D
Most normal decent people castigated the far right nutcase Alex Jones and his ilk for harrassing the Sandy Hook parents with the insane conspiracy theory that the Sandy Hook shootings were a "false flag" operation by the government and no one died there. Jones reputation suffered greatly after that.
Will Trump's reputation suffer because he is promoting a conspiracy theory about this dead woman?
One of the White House beat reporters needs to have the balls to stand up and ask him about this man's letter to twitter complaining about Trump.
As a nation let's stop coddling this asshole and his followers.
Yep the bad news keeps coming for Biden. This article makes the claim Trump has the upper hand. The reason is their stance on positions like taxes, socialism and court justices but the author is missing the real reasons people feel the way they do and the root cause of their outrage.
Dean, Donald Trump has had the worst approval ratings for a first term president in the history of polling.
"The people" are not behind him.
His "upper hand" is based on media timidity and their desire for a "horse race", not on Trump's popularity.
Why do you put such stock in polls?
Enough people were behind him for him to win in 2016.
Why sweat it? The polls are telling you Trump will lose bigly, remember?
No...when you get down to likely voters on election day, the "people" are solidly behind a proven leader like Trump, not some senile wimp ass like Biden.
The media has never been silent or timid for a moment, in their unrelenting criticism and demonization of Trump....sorta like yours truly
"Yours truly" refers to you, the speaker, not me.
Greg , what do you think of Trump alleging that a woman who died from a heart attack (according to the autopsy) was murdered ? Is that part of his job?
Why does this asshole constantly repeat debunked conspiracy theories? Is he mentally ill?
Political Outrage Has Become Our Way of Life. There is a Cure
"Writing in The Wall Street Journal , Lance Murrow, a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, observes that “Outrage has become the signature emotion of American public life.” Murrow writes:
On the left, “stay woke” means “stay outraged.” Trumpians want to “lock her up” or “build a wall.” Outrage is reductive, easy to understand. It is an idiom of childhood—a throwback even to the terrible twos.The various tribes have broken off negotiations with all differing points of view. They excuse themselves from self-doubt and abandon the idea of anything so weak as compromise or, God forbid, ambivalence: No other perspective could possibly be valid."
Essentially, when people identify with one party or the other, they have reverted to the terrible twos.
Admittedly a rather broad statement, it doesn't fit each individual, but it does fit the mass situation.
you forgot one.... im sure it was an oversight.
Obama isnt president anymore. You must have noticed.
so his hypocrisy is okay?
ya got that right.
LOL
If he got the golf course to open for him then he is a hypocrite, if it was open to everyone he is not a hypocrite.
It doesnt bother me that Trump went golfing over the weekend, if he golfed every day he would stay out of mischief.
that's why you complained about trump golfing yesterday?
if it didn't bother you? you would not bring it up.
Trump adores golf, but used to argue presidents shouldn’t spend much time playing it.
Can you believe that,with all of the problems and difficulties facing the U.S., President Obama spent the day playing golf.
You just gotta love the fauxrage of Trump.
Biden's base love his ridiculous and often anti-social behavior and that's on them not us.😵