"Donald Trump is not well. ...

[weaselx86@mastodon.social]

@wdlindsy @swasserstrom

"The nominee for the Republican Party, Donald Trump, is a squalid figure, and the squalor is not subtle. His vileness, his lawlessness, and his malevolence are undisguised. At this point, it is reasonable to conclude that those qualities are a central part of Trump’s appeal to many of the roughly 75 million people who will vote for him in three weeks. They revel in his vices; they are vivified by them."

This Election Is Different

No election prior to the Trump era, regardless of the outcome, ever caused me to question the fundamental decency of America.

The Atlantic (www.theatlantic.com)

[weaselx86@mastodon.social]

@wdlindsy @swasserstrom

"But what makes this moment different, and unusually dangerous, is that we have never before had a president who is sociopathic; who relishes cruelty and encourages political violence; who refers to his political opponents as “vermin,” echoing the rhetoric of 20th-century fascists; who resorts to crimes to overturn elections, who admires dictators and thrives on stoking hate. Trump has never been well, but he has never been this unwell."

This Election Is Different

No election prior to the Trump era, regardless of the outcome, ever caused me to question the fundamental decency of America.

The Atlantic (www.theatlantic.com)

[weaselx86@mastodon.social]

@wdlindsy

How do they make the puppet strings so invisible?

Elon Musk's bartender robot had more grace than whatever this is...

Probably because the bartender robot actually had a human behind it. There is nothing human behind Trump's eyes; indeed there doesn't appear to be much at all behind Trump's eyes -- I mean just look at his face, there's no sign there might be any intellect behind it.

[cassandravert@indieweb.social]

@wdlindsy
Trump is a "peel me a grape" kind of leader. It was always going to be other people doing the work.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@CassandraVert Well-stated — a great image to describe what he's about.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@weaselx86 Excellent commentary — yes, the dead, dead eyes that betray no even slight evidence of intellectual work behind them.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@weaselx86 @swasserstrom Thank you for sharing this good article.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@jmjm I'll confess I had to google Renfield — an apt comparison, for sure.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@meltedcheese Yes, I agree. Those with our eyes open have seen all along, but the media pretended not to see, unless it was Biden under their microscope. I agree: better late than never.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@Runyan50 Yes, a great word to use here, isn't it? I like Bryan Tyler Cohen's commentary. An excellent conclusion: "Trump’s behavior is familiar to me. Having 70 million people follow him like a god is not."

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@Runyan50 For sure.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@Runyan50 A valuable perspective on Trump's "weave," for sure — a term sanewashing mental decline and instability. I saw my mother go down a similar path as she developed and then entered into dementia. The signs I see in Trump's case are so similar to what I watched in her.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@Runyan50

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@cdunnpasadena An ambiguous word, no? Perhaps that's why they chose it.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@Runyan50 Yes, that sounds right to me.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@misterprickles I agree, and it was broadcast live, which makes it harder for Trump and his minions to deny what he said and how he behaved.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@GreenFire I think you mean Jeff Sharlet, who has done outstanding work for a long time tracking the strong underground influence of right-wing Christian groups in D.C. His book The Family is an eye-opener — I highly recommend it.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@mastodonmigration If jazz means cray-cray, I did!

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@davidarnell That's right.