Readers of TYWKIWDBI will be familiar with Trump's address to a Christian group telling them if they vote for him now, they will never have to vote again. A variety of spins have been put upon that declaration, some of them partially exculpatory. But there's more...
The video embedded above is an excerpt from a Rachel Maddow program this past week in which she points out some other frankly bizarre statements by Trump. The first part of this program featured mocking commentary about a delusional billionaire who claims to have seen the head of Amelia Earhart in a plastic bag on the bottom of the ocean, and who perhaps not coincidentally is also the largest financial contributor to the Trump campaign and the Kennedy campaign.
This video begins after that part and focuses on statements Trump has been making at campaign rallies, during which he tells the audience not that they won't have to vote in the future - but that they don't need to vote in this election. Because he already has enough votes.
That could be simply delusional, or a willing misinterpretation of current polling trends. But the more ominous implication is that he is telling his crowd they don't need to vote this year because his people have made arrangements to secure the election by manipulating vote counting or vote total certifications.
Listen to her analysis for five minutes. I'll leave the comment thread open in case Trump supporters wish to offer a different interpretation.
Here's a link to the Rolling Stone article.
Maybe the message is... You don’t want me being elected on your conscience but your vote won’t make a difference, so you’re not forced to stay home or vote for a woman.
ReplyDeleteYes, I think he's that sick.
xoxoxoBruce
It's like 20 seconds of Trump and 5 minutes of innuendo, I don't know what you want from us. If you consider certification some sort of subversion of democracy, why have the mechanism in the first place?
ReplyDeleteIronHorse, I understand your point, and I am not against certification of a vote total. What I am asking is for an explanation of why Trump is (repeatedly and emphatically) telling his audience not to bother voting for him in this election. Would you concede that at least that particular micro-aspect of his behavior is "weird"?
DeleteMaybe he's bragging about his popularity, maybe he's talking about voting integrity efforts, I'd have to see his entire statement rather than cherry picked single-second clips.
DeleteI don't think I can make the logical leap to "he's already got it figured out."
ReplyDeleteThe thing that makes his persecutory delusion so absurd is that it's next to impossible to rig a presidential election in this country without there being clear evidence. Even Trump and his friends only came up with 69 court challenges to the last election, and only one actually went anywhere, and in that case, simply altered the amount of time available to cure ballots after voting - despite all of the sound and fury about there being "proof," there never was any. That felon Dinesh D'Souzas has had to walk 2000 Mules back. Mike Lindell has bankrupted himself because he was lying all along. You can't rig a whole election without anyone noticing.
Let him try. He and his people aren't smart enough to do it without getting caught. His statements are just poorly executed faux confidence. Hell, he might even benefit from people THINKING that he's rigged the election, since his base really doesn't care that the election gets rigged - they only seem to care that it doesn't benefit their dream ethno-fascist theocracy.
I believe that Maddow may be making too much of this, since Trump seems to be talking out of both sides of his mouth. He is well-known for thinking out loud, like when he suggested using bleach to kill the Covid virus.
ReplyDeleteThe situation on 1/6/21 was quite different, because Trump was the incumbent, and was trying to stay in office. Not having the votes certified would cause problems, but it would be hard for him to be installed as president in this way.
We are certainly living in interesting times, as the old saying goes. There will be many books written about this election, however it ends up. For the third presidential election in a row, I don't like either major candidate. This year there doesn't seem to be a decent third party candidate, either, so I don't have an option to at least feel like I'm voting FOR someone, instead of picking the least objectionable one.
"...but it would be hard for him to be installed as president in this way." True, lack of certification does not install him but that's not the goal. The goal is to get the election into the Supreme Court. Then "I already have the votes" takes on a new meaning.
ReplyDeleteAnd that's been done once before. Effectively.
DeleteMy blogger Guy (that's the name my family knows you by when I talk about one of your articles) you published a piece a few years ago about how our generation has destroyed our way of governing so they can keep their taxes down by keeping us preoccupied with nonsensical issues. But here's one that is not talked about the 2018 defense appropriation bill added a copayment to veterans. The majority of the increase took effect after the 2020 election. Veterans were promised. Give your country 20 years and you had free healthcare. I now pay $13 per prescription versus zero 6 years ago. I still haven't figured out the mechanism behind this one, I have the potential of paying up to $3000 a year in what to was referred as a cost sharing of my medical bills. However, notice neither party discusses this backdoor tax increase made of us Veterans
ReplyDeleteActually that's not the first time I've heard about that. I spent the majority of my career working in VA hospitals taking care of veterans. I have no idea how the copays evolved.
DeleteEveryone will say "but what Trump means is..." and this is the crux of the issue. He says a lot of nonsense, people guess at the meaning, he either defends what he said or says that they are lying about what he said. We are witness to rhetoric devoid of logic.
ReplyDeleteTrump brainstorms. Plays games. Throws words around. Deliberately pokes the opposition with provocative nonsense. His humor is irreverent. Hyperbole his mainstay.
ReplyDeleteTrump gets attention by being flamboyant. He's a carnival Barker. There's also a kind of genius in his Jackson Pollock use of verbiage.
This stuff about "not voting" is all of the above.
There're millions of sanctimonious liberal types who go nuts over Trumps word games. I don't know who is more repulsive, said liberals or Trump himself.
The real issue continues to be Trump's end run around the Democrats, as he continues to pry off huge chunks of the working class; those left behind by the identity obsessed Democratic Party.
@Crowboy Trump does not have a sense of humor.
ReplyDeleteGood comedians generally don't laugh at their own jokes.
DeleteRepublicans have their own obsession with identity. Look at how much of Project 2025 is focused on rolling back civil rights gains.
ReplyDeleteI am amazed that the old chestnut of "obscenely wealthy political elites are the only ones who care about the working class" is still being trotted out. Trump has only pried off small chunks of those who cannot/will not separate their dismal prospects from the notion that they themselves are not to blame, it's the fault of those they can't identify with because of skin color, gender, religion, or other such individual difference. Talk about identity-obsessed politics!
ReplyDelete