Conan is completely right about Trump. I can't stand the Cold opens on SNL anymore because the real things Trump does are more ridiculous than the parody. The parody of Trump would be to portray him acting as a humble, empathetic caring person.
Trump could also tighten up the plot by charging Sen. Mark Kelly with being part of Nicholas Maduro’s drug-smuggling operation. Who else but an ex-Navy man could turn all those fishing boats into cocaine / fentanyl bearing vessels?
Pentagon(UCMJ) decided that stripping Kelly of his rank (reducing it) and reducing his pension was enough. Apparently they weren't quite pissed off enough with his "illegal orders" cueing to give him a military trial.
An "honest" Trumper would probably argue that they're getting Powell on a technicality, similar to how Al Capone was imprisoned for tax evasion. He's protected from being charged with what they actually want to charge him with, so they latch onto something less serious than the crimes they're actually after.
Of course, Capone's actual crimes were murders, while Powell's were things like "doing his job".
Powell's run by other people. Just like Capone was part of a conspiracy, so's Powell. Capone's big mistake was "being famous." The person out front is always the first in line to get the noose.
I haven't followed the case closely enough (what, you think I have time to read every court filing?) to agree with the analogy. I do know what "shaking the tree to see what monkeys fall out" means, however.
Well, I do have an informed opinion on that particular question, just not on the specifics of a case filing that I haven't read, and that was described to me as a "shot across the bow" not a "shoot to kill."
I am making a larger point, which is that the Left can only be angry at one thing at a time, lest it fracture and no longer "support" each other (and all Leftist Organizations must Support Everything, even when it doesn't make sense. Climate Justice for Sierra Club!).
So, what's currently at large:
1) Venezuela (unless that's off the news already)
2) Good's attempted murder/manslaughter
3) Fed Chair being investigated.
4) Greenland
5) Iran's Color Revolution
6) Tariffs at the Supreme Court
7) Epstein
8) Peace in the Ukraine
So, yeah, at least eight topics. Not counting "removing the penny", or other small bits thrown in as part of the Big Strategy (Is the assault on Harvard still going on?)
And you would prefer that they're also angry at something that happened 5 years ago that can no longer be affected?
How many things are you currently angry about? When you bring up unrelated things in comment sections, it gives the impression you can only talk about those limited things. Like you're unable to articulate an opinion on the fed chair, so rely on polished complaints about something that happend a half decade ago.
(Also interesting that you list 8 things that leftists are mad about while complaining that they can only be angry at one thing)
No, I would not prefer they be angry at something that happened five years ago. It was merely an example of the Left's limited attention space.
The Left, as a unit, cannot be mad about more than one thing at once, and it's public relations reflect that -- they can only protest one thing at a time. So it's "Gays for Gaza" or whatever, but they're on Palestine, and that's the only thing the Left can see.
Trump is using a Divide and Conquer Strategy -- it really isn't all that complicated. He does a dozen things at once, and the left can't actually pull itself together enough to be "properly mad" at any One Thing.
I don't think the leftists are actually all that mad about Iran, in that they don't realize that in a few months, Tehran will need to be evacuated, due to lack of water (this ought to be considered a war crime, inflicted on the Iranian people).
I think he's trying to say that "the left" is unable to focus on one issue for too long before changing topics. So they're angry about all 8, but are easily distracted.
For example, someone involved in "Gays for Gaza" is attempting to pay attention to Gaza, but is only able to think about LGBT rights (otherwise would just be involved in a gay neutral advocacy group).
He's saying it badly though, ironically because he is getting distracted. I think he probably talks about this frequently but usually doesn't have to explain because he frames the topics im an incendiary way(such as "good's attempt at murder" rather than a more neutral "Good shooting ")
Please note: the neutral way of discussing Good is "An altercation between ICE and protestors that wound up with one dead and another hospitalized." (I'm familiar with workplace injuries, I would want to know the extent of the injuries before writing even this as a cub reporter.) That neutralizes both sides claims, which is a good mental exercise for everyone.
I think you actually have me reversed. The left MUST outrage at a single thing at a time -- it's how their propaganda engine works, it's how their protests work. And then people "me too" whatever they're protesting into being "about them." (Black Lives Matter in Portland was hilarious, because there are like 3 black people in Portland -- the fountains outnumber the number of black protestors).
I believe you're confusing a multipronged attack with a dog barking at a squirrel. This seems like a rather strange thing to confuse, but maybe that's just me.
No, I'm not bewildered by your awesome "multipronged attack", whatever you may think that is. I just noted that you think you can deflect any specific criticisms of the right by going "Hey! The left did a bad thing once too! Why aren't you talking about that?"
It's not effective. People see through it. Try something else.
Which is why I'm trying to tell you that I'm not discussing this as "the left did a bad thing once too." I'm discussing Mauer's "genius idea" of smooshing together all the Trump Crazy into one story, as something the left badly wants/needs -- as they're unable to gin up the outrage machine against a dozen different things at once. Hence why it's a multipronged attack strategy on Trump's part.
Me? I may be a dog barking at a squirrel. That's a fair ducket.
O'Brien is right... when it comes to Trump, parody is as dead as irony, and their unburied, rotting corpses show us as the butt of his joke played out on the country at all our expense.
"Each day, the administration constructs a new castle of bullshit seemingly designed to validate the most hysterical things being written in all caps on BlueSky."
BlueSky annoys me, and is politically damaging in the way it caricatures liberalism. So I'm not defending it per se. But another way of putting this could be "the things they say on BlueSky are less hysterical than they first appear." Which is upsetting, because if that level of hysteria is justified, then, uh... man.
"I agree with Conan O’Brien’s recent assessment that Trump is beyond parody."
As amazing as the impression is, and despite solid writing, James Austin Johnson's Trump bits haven't been landing the same this season. The reasons are threefold: because the bit has gotten a bit stagnant (though the "freeze frame" format is fun); because Trump does things that are harder to joke about this term; and because Trump's speech has degraded to the point where he basically talks exactly like the Johnson caricature and on equally unlikely subjects.
It's too bad SNL was a couple years too late to ever make fun of Nixon.
P.S. Occasionally your comment section comes under a sort of lone-wolf troll attack. There was one on this post, and I know I saw one like a week ago. Damn shame.
Trump has surpassed parody, and become a comedian. He claims to invade Venezuela because he is incensed by Maduro's dance moves.
Therefore, in order to parody Trump, the best move is to return to the original story, which involves a cat jumping a boy doing the cha-cha.
You show trump-the-cat (get a fat orange cat, bonus if you can pull off a combover), watching Maduro dance on TV -- his ears go back, he hisses. Then, he calls the Military (Standard "General" Costume -- green army fatigues and all), "General! I saw Maduro! He looks wounded -- look at him, he's moving like a crip! Let's Pounce Him!"
Last shot, of a chopper: "Operation Yoink the Dick-tator, is a go!"*
*can't take credit for this line, an actual comedian came up with this one.
You take Trump's meshuggeneh fairy tales, and spin it up better. Plus everybody likes cats, and Trump sometimes resembles a cat chasing invisible bugs.
Conan is completely right about Trump. I can't stand the Cold opens on SNL anymore because the real things Trump does are more ridiculous than the parody. The parody of Trump would be to portray him acting as a humble, empathetic caring person.
What better way to smuggle in fentanyl... but from SPACE???
Sounds like the next Fast and Furious movie
Trump could also tighten up the plot by charging Sen. Mark Kelly with being part of Nicholas Maduro’s drug-smuggling operation. Who else but an ex-Navy man could turn all those fishing boats into cocaine / fentanyl bearing vessels?
Pentagon(UCMJ) decided that stripping Kelly of his rank (reducing it) and reducing his pension was enough. Apparently they weren't quite pissed off enough with his "illegal orders" cueing to give him a military trial.
Maybe he'll learn to shut up?
You’re missing my point bigly.
You can't be a serious person, can you?
An "honest" Trumper would probably argue that they're getting Powell on a technicality, similar to how Al Capone was imprisoned for tax evasion. He's protected from being charged with what they actually want to charge him with, so they latch onto something less serious than the crimes they're actually after.
Of course, Capone's actual crimes were murders, while Powell's were things like "doing his job".
Powell's run by other people. Just like Capone was part of a conspiracy, so's Powell. Capone's big mistake was "being famous." The person out front is always the first in line to get the noose.
It sounds like you basically agree with the analogy.
We disagree about whether Powell's behavior can be described as "part of a conspiracy " rather than "fulfilling basic expectations of his role".
I haven't followed the case closely enough (what, you think I have time to read every court filing?) to agree with the analogy. I do know what "shaking the tree to see what monkeys fall out" means, however.
So you have no informed opinion on whether there are reasons to believe that Jerome Powell is part of a conspiracy?
Well, I do have an informed opinion on that particular question, just not on the specifics of a case filing that I haven't read, and that was described to me as a "shot across the bow" not a "shoot to kill."
Ok, could you describe your reasons for believing that Powell might be involved in a conspiracy?
Remember when they had to cancel covid for 2 weeks for the Floyd Riots? Yep, your attention span's about as good as the Left's.
Is that related to this?
There are two topics here:
1. A woman being shot by ICE
2. The chair of the federal reserve being investigated for corruption
Which one is related to what you're talking about?
I am making a larger point, which is that the Left can only be angry at one thing at a time, lest it fracture and no longer "support" each other (and all Leftist Organizations must Support Everything, even when it doesn't make sense. Climate Justice for Sierra Club!).
So, what's currently at large:
1) Venezuela (unless that's off the news already)
2) Good's attempted murder/manslaughter
3) Fed Chair being investigated.
4) Greenland
5) Iran's Color Revolution
6) Tariffs at the Supreme Court
7) Epstein
8) Peace in the Ukraine
So, yeah, at least eight topics. Not counting "removing the penny", or other small bits thrown in as part of the Big Strategy (Is the assault on Harvard still going on?)
And you would prefer that they're also angry at something that happened 5 years ago that can no longer be affected?
How many things are you currently angry about? When you bring up unrelated things in comment sections, it gives the impression you can only talk about those limited things. Like you're unable to articulate an opinion on the fed chair, so rely on polished complaints about something that happend a half decade ago.
(Also interesting that you list 8 things that leftists are mad about while complaining that they can only be angry at one thing)
No, I would not prefer they be angry at something that happened five years ago. It was merely an example of the Left's limited attention space.
The Left, as a unit, cannot be mad about more than one thing at once, and it's public relations reflect that -- they can only protest one thing at a time. So it's "Gays for Gaza" or whatever, but they're on Palestine, and that's the only thing the Left can see.
Trump is using a Divide and Conquer Strategy -- it really isn't all that complicated. He does a dozen things at once, and the left can't actually pull itself together enough to be "properly mad" at any One Thing.
I don't think the leftists are actually all that mad about Iran, in that they don't realize that in a few months, Tehran will need to be evacuated, due to lack of water (this ought to be considered a war crime, inflicted on the Iranian people).
You seem to be contradicting yourself. They're mad at 8 things at once, but also not more than 1 thing at once. Which is it?
I think he's trying to say that "the left" is unable to focus on one issue for too long before changing topics. So they're angry about all 8, but are easily distracted.
For example, someone involved in "Gays for Gaza" is attempting to pay attention to Gaza, but is only able to think about LGBT rights (otherwise would just be involved in a gay neutral advocacy group).
He's saying it badly though, ironically because he is getting distracted. I think he probably talks about this frequently but usually doesn't have to explain because he frames the topics im an incendiary way(such as "good's attempt at murder" rather than a more neutral "Good shooting ")
Please note: the neutral way of discussing Good is "An altercation between ICE and protestors that wound up with one dead and another hospitalized." (I'm familiar with workplace injuries, I would want to know the extent of the injuries before writing even this as a cub reporter.) That neutralizes both sides claims, which is a good mental exercise for everyone.
I think you actually have me reversed. The left MUST outrage at a single thing at a time -- it's how their propaganda engine works, it's how their protests work. And then people "me too" whatever they're protesting into being "about them." (Black Lives Matter in Portland was hilarious, because there are like 3 black people in Portland -- the fountains outnumber the number of black protestors).
What is the single thing that the left is outraged at currently? What is the single topic that the left is currently protesting?
"Yep, your attention span's about as good as the Left's."
What, in that it's too good to fall for your desperate attempt at "look, a squirrel"?
I believe you're confusing a multipronged attack with a dog barking at a squirrel. This seems like a rather strange thing to confuse, but maybe that's just me.
No, I'm not bewildered by your awesome "multipronged attack", whatever you may think that is. I just noted that you think you can deflect any specific criticisms of the right by going "Hey! The left did a bad thing once too! Why aren't you talking about that?"
It's not effective. People see through it. Try something else.
Which is why I'm trying to tell you that I'm not discussing this as "the left did a bad thing once too." I'm discussing Mauer's "genius idea" of smooshing together all the Trump Crazy into one story, as something the left badly wants/needs -- as they're unable to gin up the outrage machine against a dozen different things at once. Hence why it's a multipronged attack strategy on Trump's part.
Me? I may be a dog barking at a squirrel. That's a fair ducket.
O'Brien is right... when it comes to Trump, parody is as dead as irony, and their unburied, rotting corpses show us as the butt of his joke played out on the country at all our expense.
"Each day, the administration constructs a new castle of bullshit seemingly designed to validate the most hysterical things being written in all caps on BlueSky."
BlueSky annoys me, and is politically damaging in the way it caricatures liberalism. So I'm not defending it per se. But another way of putting this could be "the things they say on BlueSky are less hysterical than they first appear." Which is upsetting, because if that level of hysteria is justified, then, uh... man.
"I agree with Conan O’Brien’s recent assessment that Trump is beyond parody."
As amazing as the impression is, and despite solid writing, James Austin Johnson's Trump bits haven't been landing the same this season. The reasons are threefold: because the bit has gotten a bit stagnant (though the "freeze frame" format is fun); because Trump does things that are harder to joke about this term; and because Trump's speech has degraded to the point where he basically talks exactly like the Johnson caricature and on equally unlikely subjects.
It's too bad SNL was a couple years too late to ever make fun of Nixon.
JAJ’s improvisational riffs in the Trump voice on Instagram are still the peak of the form for me.
“They’re sending Cat Mario…”
Man, I just love your stuff. This was effin perfect.
P.S. Occasionally your comment section comes under a sort of lone-wolf troll attack. There was one on this post, and I know I saw one like a week ago. Damn shame.
This is a masterpiece column.
The best part is the description of a typical JD Vance presser. Brilliant!
Written like a true Swiftie ... a Johnathan Swiftie! Excellent execution of the modest proposal format!
“More of Same” yes please! I would probably actually pay for that newspaper
Dark tone Jeff but I’m right there with you
Trump has surpassed parody, and become a comedian. He claims to invade Venezuela because he is incensed by Maduro's dance moves.
Therefore, in order to parody Trump, the best move is to return to the original story, which involves a cat jumping a boy doing the cha-cha.
You show trump-the-cat (get a fat orange cat, bonus if you can pull off a combover), watching Maduro dance on TV -- his ears go back, he hisses. Then, he calls the Military (Standard "General" Costume -- green army fatigues and all), "General! I saw Maduro! He looks wounded -- look at him, he's moving like a crip! Let's Pounce Him!"
Last shot, of a chopper: "Operation Yoink the Dick-tator, is a go!"*
*can't take credit for this line, an actual comedian came up with this one.
You take Trump's meshuggeneh fairy tales, and spin it up better. Plus everybody likes cats, and Trump sometimes resembles a cat chasing invisible bugs.
Another good one, Maurer!