Is anyone besides me sick of the Trump bashing questions?

To me at least, it’s people trying to understand something that is hard to believe.

A man with no political experience, who insulted just about everyone, and has shown no real talent for leading, has been elected to one of the most important posts in the world. How did this happen? Is this really what America is about? Can I expect more of this?

It is foreign and still makes me wonder what I’m missing every single time I think about it. So occasionally I’ll ask questions about some aspect of it. Most of the questions I see here could fall in the same category.

So no, not tired of it, just wish there were more answers.

Not as sick as I am of having an anti-environmental president. I welcome daily acknowledgement that we actually elected that ridiculous thing, as well as daily attention on the horrible pro-corporate anti-environment anti-humanity etc policies moving forward.

Not me. I have set all Trump questions to “automatic ignore” in my brain’s ignore function, so most Trump questions all pass by me with no effect, unless the question is interesting enough. The answer to all those questions are so predictable that after a while I get bored. It’s not that I like Trump in any way, quite the opposite, it’s just that it’s all said and done, no amount of bashing can bring the man down and we have to learn to live with it.

Nope. Keep them coming. I wish there were more of them.
Trump is the greatest threat to world order in decades.

Lots of folks are sick of it.

Of course not. He deserves to be bashed, and he deserves to be questioned.

No.

When he won the elections, the site was flooded with Trump questions. It got real annoying. It seems to get quieter now.

I don’t care anymore either way. My opinion is in line with Mimi’s.

The Rep/cons never got tired of bashing Obama . why should the non Rep/cons get tired of bashing Trump?
Who by the way doesn’t have a diplomatic bone in his entire body.

Not as long as there are some positive posts about him for balance . I mean I am curious as to what novel ideas he can come up with from being a billionare. I’m just teasing when I dump on Trump. I’m curious what he would bring to the table. I’m hoping that because he is rich that he can’t be bribed. I like his approval of the Keystone XL pipeline.

No. The whole world needs to stay focused on him. The OP acts like there’s nothing to talk about. Trump hasn’t gone quietly into the night. He’s doing exactly what most of us were afraid of.

It is our duty to keep exposing him for what he is. To keep him under scrutiny, and keep each other from just letting this happen, and think of it as “the new norm.”

If you don’t like questions about Trump, don’t contribute. If you’re a supporter, give ample argument that opposes the bashing. Nobody is making up things to bash him, they are discussing real life issues. Not trying to convince people that Obama is a Muslim secret agent, from Kenya, out to take your guns, put you in death camps, and so on…

My question to the OP is ; “is anyone besides me sick of Trump giving us reasons to bash him?” YES…

Nice answer there @MrGrimm888 and oh so true.^^^

Nope. My disgust of him is as big as his ego.

Thanks @SQUEEKY2 .

@MrGrimm888 Just to clarify, I don’t mean that I don’t care about what he does, I just mean that at least make the questions go beyond “Is Trump the biggest asshole?” and the answers beyond “Yes. Because he’s a dick”. Things like that are just repeating what everyone has already known and add no sustance to the discussion, if we really need to expose Trump.

That said, I agree with you. We need facts to expose him, not just blind anger.

^Yes. At some point, many ‘Trump’ threads become circular. I try to keep my questions relevant to a certain issue, or angle.

As I said though. I don’t want people to become numb to his deeds that are seen as the collective will of all Americans.

As with any thread here, a jelly is doing this forum a disservice, if their contributions lack substance, or are based solely on emotion.

@RedDeerGuy1

“I mean I am curious as to what novel ideas he can come up with from being a billionare.”

Absolutely none. He’s never had a novel idea in his life before, no reason that he’ll start now.

“I’m hoping that because he is rich that he can’t be bribed.”

Ha! He’s already proven to be the most corrupt president we’ve ever had in office. He’ll do one thing and one thing only – look out for his own interests.

“I like his approval of the Keystone XL pipeline.”

Sure, it’s great for Canadian oil interests, but it’s a pretty shitty deal for Americans. We’re carrying all of the risk for virtually none of the reward.

it’s probably a good idea to cut back on the Trump bashing. Given that he seems to pick military targets based on what he reads on Facebook and twitter we probably shouldn’t givemhim any ideas on what to bomb next.

@Darth_Algar I think that you might be exaggerating.

Absolutely none. He’s never had a novel idea in his life before, no reason that he’ll start now
You can’t know that for certain. I believe that you are being funny and tongue in cheek.

Ha! He’s already proven to be the most corrupt president we’ve ever had in office. He’ll do one thing and one thing only – look out for his own interests.
Do you have checkable facts about that?

Sure, it’s great for Canadian oil interests, but it’s a pretty shitty deal for Americans. We’re carrying all of the risk for virtually none of the reward
Trump allowed the Keystone XL pipeline in exchange for America getting a cut of the profits and using only U.S.A. steel/labor.

Not until he starts acting like a President.

I don’t like politics creeping in here—that’s what i have Reddit for. That said, it does give liberals and pseudo-leftists the opportunity to make fools of themselves by spewing outrageous statements that have little to do with reality. Like it or not, folks, Trump was the lesser of the two evils this time ‘round, and we should all be glad that he, and not the neo-conservative, neo-liberal Clinton, won. You think a few bombs in Syria is bad? The way she was talking, do you really think Clinton wouldn’t have started a full-on war by now? If you do, you haven’t been paying attention.

@SQUEEKY2 “The Rep/cons never got tired of bashing Obama . why should the non Rep/cons get tired of bashing Trump?”

LOL! This is the kind of immaturity that keeps America from getting back on its feet. Who cares what’s right and wrong? What matters is the childish game of Democrats v Republicans, right? It’s all just another team sport to you, isn’t it?

@Rarebear “Trump is the greatest threat to world order in decades.” You know, there was this Cheney guy that started a war in a place called Iraq. Have you heard of him? There’s also that fat little nutjob who runs North Korea, he’s clearly much worse than The Donald…

Okay, so here’s the deal, Fluther; for years jellies have been whining for more members, new blood, a wider variety of viewpoints. That won’t happen with that kind of exclusionary behavior. It has been established that most of Fluther
is Trump opposed. Even the mods allow that mundane, hateful repitition. You all know who shares your opinions already, so pm each other your hate. If you continue hammering on the same tired shit, don’t feel confused about why Fluther has dwindled so.
Swear to all the gods others pray to, I am wishing for some dream questions, and could I be preggers.

I’d rather see this site close than be flooded with Trump supporters.

When Trump stops doing horrible things then people will stop posting. The best advice given to Trump was a two word message from Joe Biden: “Grow up”. It is frightening to have such a shallow, unprepared and self-interested figure as the leader of our country.

@Patty_Melt Your logic for more members in Fluther is noble except 65% disapprove of Trump as president or don’t care! So two times as many people would be interested in Fluther comments about the twitter President as people thinking he is God in the White House (or golfing in Florida at Mar-al-ago the other half of the week.)

@Tropical_Willie Ok, I don’t get it. “65% disapprove of Trump as president or don’t care,” 65% of whom? Fluther members? Residents of the USA? People in the world at large?

Where do you get your statistics? Show me the survey.

Okay I misspoke 61% disapprove or don’t care, 39% approve. That US—Gallup Polls and as of last Saturday’s report.

@Tropical_Willie ok, thanks. But that makes no sense to me. If those numbers are really accurate, it’s strange how the guy was elected in the first place.

The 39% showed up in the right states and the other 42% showed up in the other states. Actually only 55% TOTAL of all the eligible voters showed up at the polls or mailed in absentee ballots.

Every time Trump behaves stupidly, corruptly or lies he should be held to account for it. We know he is stupid, corrupt and a liar but that doesn’t mean he should get away with it.

@Patty_Melt Amen!

Can the outside world also be included in the disapproval of Trump?

Not I. But I do give credit where credit is due, but there hasn’t been very much of that…

Nope. But @Seek, I’m glad to see as many supporters of the fool as have the grit to show up here. @Patty Melt The man is in the business of doing and saying hokey shit that he cannot be allowed to get away with. He’s an arrogant ignorant pig visibly passing himself off as a race horse, and as such is worthy of all the scorn, ridicule and derision that can be heaped upon him.

Hey Pigboy. I was no supporter of Cheney either. But at least they had a coherent policy and strategy. The strategy was flawed and based upon a lie but there was a strategy.

Trump has no strategy. He reacts to what he sees on TV. There is no coherent strategy. He governs by tweet.

And I write this as a conservative, by the way.

@RedDeerGuy1 “Do you have checkable facts about that?”

Seriously? Have you paid no attention whatsoever? For starters there’s the fact that he’s refused to divest himself of his business interests while in office. From the moment he took office he was in violation of the Constitution. There’s the fact that his wife and child continue to live in New York, in a building he owns, not in the White House. That means that the Secret Service agents assigned to them must live there as well. The apartments/rooms they stay in must be paid for. Trump owns the building, he’s profiting from the security detail that’s required to safeguard his family.

These two above-mentioned facts alone make him more brazenly, more bare-faced corrupt than any other man who has occupied the Oval Office.

“Trump allowed the Keystone XL pipeline in exchange for America getting a cut of the profits and using only U.S.A. steel/labor.”

Oh? And where does the “US’s” cut go? Into the US Treasury? Into the Social Security trust? Into a fund to clean up and remedy environmental ruin from that pipeline? Or into the coffers of a few US-based corporations?

And as for his claim that it KXL would only be built using US steel – surprise, surprise, another flagrant lie from the man who lies in one way or another 83% of the time.

Sure, there will be some jobs during the construction of KXL, but virtually none after that. It’s going to run over aquifers that provide the water for a good portion of the middle United States (and for the significant bulk of our crops), all to move oil from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico to be transported internationally and sold on the global market. As I said – we’re taking on most of the risk for very little reward. Yay for Canada, but it’s a tremendously shitty deal for America (contrary to Trump’s “America first” blustering).

@Rarebear

Indeed. I may have disagreed with the Bush/Cheney administration on many things, but those were disagreements in policy. I never considered Bush fundamentally, psychologically, unfit for the office he held. Nor did I ever get the impression that he had no concept of, or respect for, the gravity of that office.

@Darth_Algar To be clear, a lot of Canadians also oppose KXL (those who support it are largely – surprise! – Albertans). This issue will probably cause our PM a lot of grief in the next election.

I agree with Darrh on the KXL but I don’t think it will be as good a deal for Canada. The oil in Alberta is shale oil which is expensive to produce and will only be economically viable if global oil prices spike.

Sick of them because I’m sick of repitition, and want see questions about other things, not because I support Trump or care about Trump supporters’ feelings. But if we’re going to talk about Trump, I’d rather see questions that examine his policies more than I want to see cheap jokes about him. Questions critical of him can have something to offer, they don’t need to be shallow.

No, I welcome and enjoy these questions along with the knowledge that other people despise the stupid ugly cunt as much as I do.

@dappled_leaves “To be clear, a lot of Canadians also oppose KXL (those who support it are largely – surprise! – Albertans). This issue will probably cause our PM a lot of grief in the next election.”

Oh, no worries, I know. Actually, I nearly considered putting “yay for Alberta”.

@Rarebear “I agree with Darrh on the KXL but I don’t think it will be as good a deal for Canada. The oil in Alberta is shale oil which is expensive to produce and will only be economically viable if global oil prices spike.”

Indeed. One of the big reasons why it finally died (at least initially, until Trump’s necromancy) without so much as a whimper is that not even many of the oil companies are for it. Not while there are much more profitable oil sources to exploit. Prices are down considerably because demand is (if you can believe it) down and global supplies are up. There’s been such a glut of oil lately (over the last year or so) that at times oil tankers have been just sitting around unable to offload because there’s just no room to put their cargo.

I agree with @DominicY. If we’re gonna yap about him, at least we can make it constructive and not just repeat the same old all the time.

Donald Trump deserves to be called out for the horrible, mean, selfish, ignorant person he is.

Below are some of the reasons why, lest we all forget. Sometimes I wonder if people have willfully ignored his disgusting comments. If not, how can anyone justify his mean, ignorant insults?

He constantly insults and belittles women with comments such as, Grabbing Them By The Pussy

He insults people with disabilities when he Mocks a Disabled Reporter

He degrades the military and immigrants by Insulting a Gold Star Family

He further degraded the military when he insulted our national war hero John McCain

He insulted everyone in this country who has, or their ancestors have, fought for Freedom and Civil Rights by insulting our national civil rights hero John Lewis

I could go on and on and on, but anyone who has paid any attention knows what he has said and done. Donald Trump does not give a shit about the citizens of this country. He cares only about himself. His image and his pocket book. If you are a person that admires Donald Trump, then I have to assume that you are delusional, ignorant, or mean. Support of Donald Trump degrades and insults us all.

So no, I think Donald Trump should be called out each and every time he does something terrible. Even if it’s every single day.

Kardamom, you and people like you are the reason why I know I will survive the next four years. Thank you.

Don’t like. Don’t read. You’re only annoying yourself.

@Rarebear “But at least they had a coherent policy and strategy.” LOL! It was evil, it caused half a million deaths, but it was all part of a strategy to take over the world so it was okay. See, this is why people think conservatives are evil, while liberals are merely stupid.

@Kardamom You need to learn the difference between insulting a member of a group and insulting the entire group. If you insult Trump, do you insult white men? No, so if Trump insults me that does not mean he is insulting all pigmen. Ironically—ie, in typical liberal fashion—you then insult everyone who supports Trump! Amazing.

I hope you were looking for a Trump bashing session with this question, because that’s what you got. Only a couple of answers here even touched on policy and those were wrong or distorted. The rest were simply personal insults. personal insults to decry what they want to believe were insults.

Hey Pigboy, It wasn’t “evil”, it was “wrong”. There is a difference.

And I’ll add as an edit, you didn’t pay attention to what I wrote before. I said it was part of coherent strategy. You know where it was going and you know what the goals were. With the asshole Trump he sees something on TV and ejaculates a new strategy.

So @ThePigman when trump says grab them by the pussy he was only referring to one women?
When he mocks a disabled person it was just that person, not all disabled people?

So when he mocked that gold star couple it was just them not all gold star couples?
You’re totally right I need to know the difference why don’t you explain it?
Coming from a friend or co-worker I might tend to think they might be only referring to one person, but not the leader of one of the worlds biggest super powers.

Rarebear, you know very well that Iraq was part of a neo-conservative strategy outlined in PNAC’s statement of principles, which in turn was signed by Cheney. Neo-conservatives are the scum of the earth and should all be dropped into an ISIS stronghold with signs reading “Mohammed Is A Pedo” around their necks.

@SQUEEKY2 You are repeating yourself. Pussy wise, he may have been referring to 100 women, but that does not mean all women as there are more than 100 women out there. On the disabled thing, if i mock someone for being blind, does that mean i am mocking paraplegics? No. If you mock a Republican (Trump) does that mean you are mocking all Republicans? By your so-called logic, i guess the answer is yes. Re that Khan guy who supported Clinton—the woman who sent his son to his DEATH and helped to kill half a million Muslims—it is clear that, yes, if you mock one “Gold star” family you are not mocking all of them. But then, you already knew all this.

Wow you are one messed up Rep/con but then again you already knew this.

@ThePigman… I think there’s a slight difference between the way people may “bash” Trump, and the way Trump insults others. Insults pointed at Trump are focused on Trump; the fact that he happens to be a representative of the Republican party is, then, incidental to statements focused on the current President. (Of course, in the partisan times, there are often accusations made by one whole side against the other, but that seems to be a separate matter and neither “side” is really blameless there.)

Trump, by contrast, insults people by leveraging ugly stereotypes associated with the various groups to which they belong. He mocked the reporter with the disability by miming flailing hands hands—i.e., making fun of the reporter for having a physical disability. He mocked the Gold Star family by insinuating falsehoods about their familial dynamic (namely that the woman wasn’t “allowed” to have opinions, likely inspired by the fact she wore a headscarf, further demonstrating his disrespect towards, and ignorance for, people whose practices seem different to his own.) He mocked John McCain for having the misfortune being caught as a POW and for enduring the ensuing torture. In his comments about grabbing pussy, he referred to “beautiful women” in the abstract, trying to claim that “beautiful women” would accept his groping advances because his wealth made him desirable to them, or it would at least keep them from retreating and complaining (underlying assumption: women are attracted to that sort of power)... sounds to me like it was a pretty blanket statement, though I suppose it isn’t “all” women—he has no interest in the ugly ones.

People became upset because he: mocked a person for having a disability, as if having a disability is a reason to mock someone; mocked a family for their religious beliefs and practices, making gross assumptions while doing so; mocked a war hero for enduring what he did, demonstrating his own ignorance of war; mocked (beautiful) women for how easy he claimed it was to grab them uninvited, privileging his own impulses over (beautiful) women’s bodily autonomy. To repeat what I said above, he leverages ugly stereotypes in order to craft his insults—by doing so, he does indeed mock “all” of the people the stereotype pretends to represent… and that is why most people become especially sensitive, even angry, regarding the types of insults that Trump throws around. He uses the same schoolyard bully techniques that we all learned were faulty and asinine in grade school, yet here is someone using them to transparent effect on a national stage, in front of cameras and microphones, and getting applause for doing so… (Incidentally, it’s also why people started to apply unwarranted, overgeneralized labels onto the people apparently applauding Trump’s bigotry… Because it’s hard to fathom who the f*** would applaud those kinds of statements.)

… All of that said: I agree with the people on here who are frustrated when the “bashing” is done in lieu of actual substantive conversations. Yes, most of the things that Trump has done in the spotlight of the nation have been flops and/or lies—but meanwhile, he and the legislative majority have been hard at work rolling things back in less publicized ways. Like the internet provider privacy laws, or the regulation on chlorpyrifos, which uncontroversial scientific research has linked to neural damage in infancy and childhood—granted, neither legislation had technically gone into effect yet, but would have in the next couple of years… Or things like Trump’s overly simplistic mantra of “two regulations gone for every new one put in place,” as if regulations were of no more individual importance than suits and shoes in a closet… I also have concerns over how Trump’s administration seems to be trying to cut budgets and personnel in certain federal agencies, and I am still waiting for the shoe to drop on the FBI’s and CIA’s investigations into the Trump administration’s ties to Russia…. And of course that isn’t nearly everything.

As for any part I play in the bashing… I will be the first to admit that sometimes my anger has gotten the best of me, and there just seem to be so many adjectives that adhere so easily to Trump’s lapel… But when I return to my better senses I remember that “bashing” him won’t help stabilize national discourse into something that resembles civility, nor will it help reduce the inflammation surrounding so-called “PC Culture” which, at its core, is just a tenet of respect people and respect diversity, and that by lashing out I am just contributing to the petty, vapid discourse in which Trump thrives. (Oops, there I go with my adjectives again… I really do need to get a handle on them.)

Also, belated apology for rambling.

Hey Pigboy,
Of course it was a neoconservative strategy. But the operative word here is “strategy”. The difference between the neoconservative point of view and Trump is that everybody understood the strategy. Your boy Trump just spits out a strategy and turns on a dime. He’s out of control, unstable, incompetent, and may kill us all. I hope you’re happy.

Well stated @Soubresaut, worth the read.

I’d also be interested in someone who is vexed with bashing to define “bashing”. I’ve often come across accusations of bashing about almost anything (Christian bashing, gay bashing, etc.), and sometimes “bashing” seems to mean little more than strong disagreement. Obviously we can identify clear insults as bashing, e.g. “Trump is an idiot, Trump is orange, Trump is a meanie butt”. But what about “Trump did X and this is why Trump is not a good president”. Is that “bashing”? Can one say anything negative about Trump’s character or his actions without having it be bashing? Keep in mind that I’m differentiating discussion of his policies from that of his character. While the character of a president is usually not what I’m most interested in (and not what’s most important as far as the nation goes), it can be important in the influence it has and can be discussed.

For example, although I don’t actually suspect Trump of agreeing with white nationalists, white nationalists seem to love Trump. And while it would be inaccurate to say “Trump is a white nationalist” (that could be seen as “bashing”), to question why Trump appeals to white nationalists is not, to point out that things that Trump has said have bolstered white nationalism is not.

“Bashing” to me implies a level of unfairness and a level of shallowness. It is not synonymous with “negative”. You can be negative about Trump without “bashing”.

And…...
This is me unfollowing my own question.

and this is me eyerolling

I think there’s a feeling here that when someone has an unpopular opinion, that hints that it’s an unwelcome opinion as well. I understand the lurve system and GAs plays into that some. Let’s be clear though, I’m glad there are people here to argue unpopular opinions, as I think most others are. As long as we can do it without it degenerating into arguing past each other and trying to catch each other in a slip (making it about the person rather than the subject / ad hominem)...

I’m happy to have a substantive conversation with just about anyone, if some of the folks that are tired of bashing want to have a positive, informative conversation about Trump and what’s going on, I’ll participate as long I can. To me, positive means there’s actually some good coming from it, and everyone is actually listening and treating the other side like an actual human being. Someone who is capable of understanding your full set of thoughts and still disagreeing with you. If that’s what some folks are looking for, or think is lacking, then get that fired up somewhere and I’m all over it.

In the scope of this question, if someone actually wants to say they’re a Trump supporter, and these are the reasons and the logic that got them there, I respect 100% that they’ve thought about their position and just come to different conclusions than I have. I really appreciate the view into what others are seeing. Cruiser was nice enough to list his things America needed to be great. I’ve probably read it 20 times at this point.

I respect @Jaxk quite a bit, and appreciate his views because he has taken the time to explain them and they seem well reasoned and thought through. We just happen to not line up on a lot of things. he’s usually wrong, it’s not his fault, he’s Grumpy

At the same time @Darth_Algar has illustrated points beautifully that I completely agree with, and some that I don’t, but I never think his basic position is lacking for thought or intelligence.

I guess I’m trying to say don’t feel unwelcome simply because answers are unpopular via the standard measures around here. Those GAs can mean a lot of things, but usually they show agreement. It takes some fine writing or obvious soul searching to get the occasional “great-answer-that-I-disagree-with” click. Don’t let the lurve decide the value of a dissenting opinion.

So, bring on the more substantive questions, maybe we’ll all learn something.

——-

* specific people picked above chosen because they have my respect and I’m absolutely sure they’ve all heard worse

@funkdaddy nailed it. This is why we must keep asking questions and debating about President Trump. By not asking questions, not getting angry, not arguing, we get complacent. And if we get complacent, we die. And no, that is not hyperbole.

And if we do, we deserve it.

@Soubresaut Trump’s insults may be based on certain stereotypes, but that does not make them offensive to everyone belonging to that group. The handicapped guy, even IF Trump was mocking his particular disability, has nothing to do with other types of disability. The evil Khan and his wife, it is quite common for Muslim women to be submissive, so it may be a stereotype but it’s not one based on nothing but prejudice—unlike the stereotype that they are all radical nutjobs.Re pussy grabbing, nice try, but a “blanket statement” about beautiful women is no more a statement about women in general than a blanket statement about handsome men is a statement about men in general. “Brad Pitt is handsome” does not equal “Men are handsome.”

As for who would applaud, i for one applauded his attack on the vile Khan. Any scumbag who campaigns for the woman who sent his son to die deserves whatever he gets.

And you totally lost me when you mentioned Russia. Not the slightest evidence of any impropriety, yet here you are pushing the connection. In other words, being unreasonable while trying to seem reasonable. I suppose you also believe Reich’s claims that the Black bloc are actually paramilitary types working for Breitbart! As for PC, it has nothing to do with respect for others, it has to do with tribalization and division and those who defend it are doing the work of the plutocracy.

It’s only a bad reflection on himself and illustrates how little honesty and truth mean to him.

@ThePigman is a Nationalist and not a Globalist, I assume.

What & miss out on all this entertainment?
Nah, keep them coming, makes me laugh long & loud

@ThePigman, do you want me to respond? I’m not sure, but I’ll give it a try…

I am also sorry again (to anyone reading this) for the length, though I doubt I’m known here for being concise… Still, there was a lot to unpack for me to feel that I had given a fair response. I started each new section with bolded word(s) so if anyone wants to, they can skip to that part.

I should probably start by saying that I think @DominicY got to the crux of the issue, and what I focused on is perhaps more peripheral.

And as I tried to make evident in my earlier post, I don’t think bashing (as opposed to critique or negative statements) is productive to conversation, no matter who delivers the zinger. I also won’t try and say that I haven’t slipped up in moments when I’ve been frustrated at Trump’s conduct or at the political atmosphere as a whole.

As for basing insults on stereotypes… The best I can figure is that were talking past each other. So, here’s an example to try and illustrate the dynamics I see at play here. I’ll use Brad Pitt as an example too, because why not?

Thought experiment: Imagine I was to say: “Brad Pitt is such a man. It’s pathetic. He can’t keep it in his pants. Two affairs! He’s such a man.”

And now imagine I was saying that to a group of women in private, and when the transcript later comes out I say “Oh come on, it’s just parlor talk. It’s nothing. We all talk like that when the door’s closed.”

Or imagine that I was saying that while standing on a stage, and I had an audience of people laughing (or shouting) and clapping along. And if anyone tries to point out the obviously problematic assumptions ungirding the statements, the way such statements might be alienating men and thrumming up anti-man sentiment in the crowd, I scoff and say “these PC police, trying to tell us what to say—we’re sick of it!” and then the crowd cheers some more.

Or imagine that I was tweeting it out in a slew of targeted tweets that were getting liked and retweeted by Twitter users.

Can you see how those situations start to seem problematic? Can you see how those situations start to seem exclusionary? And can you see how those situations attribute Brad Pitt’s infidelities to an entire group, namely men, the connection held together because of stereotypes or assumptions that people are carrying—or at least recognize enough to get the gist?

Of course saying “Brad Pitt is handsome” doesn’t mean “men are handsome.” No one is disputing that. However, implying or suggesting that Brad Pitt is handsome because he’s a certain kind of man does introduce assumptions about men in a more general sense.

Pussy-grabbing: If you read what I had written more carefully, you would have seen that I kept Trump’s pussy-grabbing claims focused on “beautiful women.” As I phrased it above, he has no interest in the ugly ones.

Here are his exact words: “You know, I’m automatically attracted to beautiful—I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything… Grab ‘em by the pussy. You can do anything.” (Source)

Yes, in the beginning of the recording, Trump is talking about a single woman, a woman who ”[he] moved on like a bitch. But [he] couldn’t get there.” Notice, however, that in the quote above, he has clearly moved from a single women to a pattern of behavior.

And let’s not forget that Trump is also a man who has bragged about being able to walk into the changing rooms of his beauty pageants while the contestants are in various states of undress—simply because he owns the pageant. Let’s not forget that there have also been many women who finally felt like they could come forward with stories of how Trump treated them.

So even if Trump’s words were focused on a single woman: “I just started kissing her. It was like a magnet. I didn’t even wait. And because I’m a star, she let me do it. I could do anything… Grab her by the pussy. I could do anything”? … Even if he phrased it like that, it seems like a weak argument to suggest that we don’t still see a pattern of behavior on Trump’s part simply because he “wasn’t talking about all women.”

(This is already longer than I meant it to be, so I’ll try to be brief….)

Kovaleski: the reporter, the “handicapped guy,” has a condition that prevents him from being able to extend his right hand. When Trump tried to discredit Kovaleski’s statement, he decided to do so by flailing bent-up arms, putting on a voice, and acting out a moment of fictitious stumbling confusion. Trump led up to that by saying “poor guy, you’ve got to see this guy.” It is hard for me to see how he isn’t making reference to Kovaleski’s disability…

But even if we believe Trump’s claims that is was simply an accident, Trump could have at least apologized for the optics once he understood the full context… because, come on, it looks pretty bad. Instead, Trump claimed that Kovaleski was “using his disability to grandstand,” and that the New York Times is “a paper that is rapidly going down the tubes.”

(Source for quotes)

As for the scope of the insult… By mocking the disability, he’s trying to use the disability as a reason to discredit Kovaleski, so you can’t really claim it isn’t about the disability itself.

… Are you saying that since Kovaleski has arthrogryposis, that if Trump was mocking anything, he’s only mocking the people with that specific condition?

Or are you saying that since Trump was making gestures, he’s only mocking people with physical disabilities that limit the control they have of their arms or limbs?

But what about the long, unfortunate history of societies treating people with all sorts of disability as sub-human, as dumb, as not worthy of the same consideration and respect as others? Doesn’t that change the context of Trump’s physical and verbal mockery of an intelligent, articulate reporter who happens to have a disability?

The Khans: I don’t really know where to begin here, since you start out calling the father “evil”… and then you try to claim that a stereotype of Muslim women is true by claiming, like many people who try to defend stereotypes, that it’s “not one based on nothing.” I could point out that many cultures have a long history of oppressing women, and it doesn’t mean that’s the case anymore. I could point out that “Muslim” is a category encompassing a wide range of people and their diverse beliefs. I could point out that stereotypes virtually never hold up to scrutiny—anecdotes extrapolated to represent a group of people that, statistically, they don’t… or misconceptions made by people who don’t understand the group of people well enough to make those sorts of statements… etc. Instead, I think I’ll let Muslim women speak for themselves, as they did here. And I think I’ll let Ghazala speak for herself, as she did here

Also, can you explain to me what you mean when you suggest that Hillary caused Humayun Khan’s death? He died in Iraq in 2004.

Russia: Yes, I am suspicious about the connections between the Trump administration and Russia. We know right now, because the CIA and FBI confirmed it, that both agencies are investigating Russia’s misinformation campaign during the last presidential election, a campaign targeted at Hillary Clinton. Trump was the beneficiary of that effort, though whether incidentally or intentionally has yet to be determined—but we know that the FBI is investigating possible connections between the Trump administration and Russia. While no definitive ties between the Trump administration and Russia have been publicized, there have been numerous leaks that are at least concerning. Of course, I recognize that neither the FBI nor CIA is able to comment on the veracity of the various leaks, and Comey himself hinted that at least some of the information floating around is erroneous. Still, there are also confirmed connections, monetary or otherwise, between various Trump administration and various Russian oligarchs. There’s enough in the ether for me to feel that my suspiciousness is warranted. And, if you’ll grant me, I do believe I said that I was “waiting” for the FBI and/or CIA to come forward with solid evidence one way or another. I said it in flowery language, perhaps (“shoe to drop”), but I don’t see how that’s being unreasonable.

I have never heard of the paramilitary-whatever, and I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t make assumptions about my beliefs or opinions, particularly in an attempt to stick onto me what I can only assume is a wild theory in order to make me seem less credible. I haven’t done that to you. (If you feel I inadvertently have, please point it out and I will retract it.)

PC Culture: Perhaps I shouldn’t have used such a hotly debated phrase as that one, since I know from others on this site that there are many different interpretations and experiences surrounding the phrase. At the least, I would hope that you and I can agree that a culture of “respecting people and respecting diversity” is the antithesis of national or global factions.

Lol I misunderstood the question. I thought Pig Man was asking if we are sick of Donald Trump bashing any questions directed to him.

But in regard to me sick of people critisisng Trump? No not at all. He deserves to be critisised. This idea of sitting back, shrugging our shoulders while he triggers the beginning of a war is not an option. I will question everything.

To all the Trump supporters, we are not going to stop critisisng him. But at the same time I have no problem with our critiques being questioned.