[In all probability, that's precisely what that warms the cockles of the heart pf Putin, and also of the Putinistas.
And never mind the Putinistas, Putin himself a nasty quasi-dictator; the bufffon poses a grave threat to the entire humanity - throgh his environmentala nd nuclear policies, just not to the People in the US and the neighboring region through his brazen racism, sexism, homophobia, deep disdain for human rights and pro-corporate policies.] I/II. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/10/the-day-eminems-middle-finger-became-presidential/542580/ Eminem Delivers a Critique as Vulgar as the President An unlikely champion of civic values offers a blistering TV performance. Jumana El-Heloueh / Reuters CONOR FRIEDERSDORF 7:46 AM ET POLITICS Subscribe to The Atlantic’s Politics & Policy Daily, a roundup of ideas and events in American politics. The rapper Eminem performed a freestyle takedown of President Trump on television Tuesday, calling out the hypocrisy of his extravagant travel, his bumbling incompetence, and his disrespect for a POW before dubbing him “Donald the bitch.” The performance was perhaps the most prominent instance of a white celebrity defending the NFL players protesting the killing of African Americans by police officers. And the flagrant disrespect the entertainer showed for the president felt like karma, and not just because Trump has called the protesting NFL players sons of bitches. Recall that during last year’s Republican primary, Trump was able to excel in part by taking advantage of the fact that he had no respectability to maintain, no sense of shame or decency to limit him, and no reputation for good character to lose. None of the other candidates could pull off bragging about their penis size on stage, insulting a rival’s wife, or appending juvenile nicknames to competing pols. The Access Hollywood tape would’ve sunk any other candidate. But why would it lower anyone’s opinion of a man who gave a radio host permission to call his daughter “a piece of ass”? To fight Trump as Trump fought would have required a Jeb Bush or John Kasich or Marco Rubio to embarrass their mothers, spouses, and kids, to sully their souls and their respectability. Eminem is not similarly constrained. The superstar rapper has been marshaling profane lyrics, rejecting political correctness, calling out hypocrisy, and raising a defiant middle finger at critics for 25 years, a period in which he became one of the world’s best-selling recording artists. His many fans appreciate that he says what he thinks. Oh, and he’s from the Rust Belt. If there’s a more apt foil for Trump, or any celebrity of comparable stature who could seem half as authentic calling him “Trump the bitch” on national TV (while insisting that the president doesn’t have the balls to respond), I don’t know who it is. And yes, “Trump the bitch” is too vulgar for many to celebrate. Alas, as long as Trump inhabits the White House, Eminem-style vulgarity is presidential. Trump’s banter with Billy Bush was certainly more degraded than anything in Eminem’s substantively civic video, where after a few fits and starts, the flow smooths out and the blows start to land: Eminem underscored the irony of his emergence as a moralizing political critic with the line, “Trump, when it comes to giving a shit, you’re as stingy as I am!” In fact, Eminem’s reputation for not giving a shit, his impulse to burn everything down—if only metaphorically—with his lyrics, and his explicit hostility to the notion of serving as a role model, lend a fraught wrinkle to his turn as an earnest denouncer of Trump’s depredations. If Eminem feels a need to object, if Eminem can easily seize the moral high ground from the president of the United States, and if it now falls to Eminem of all people to defend core civic values, what does that say about us? Yet here we are, with years of Trump ahead of us, and all divisions his tenure will stoke. “Any fan of mine who’s a supporter of his / I’m drawing in the sand a line,” Eminem rapped. “You’re either for or against / And if you can’t decide who you like more and you’re split / on who you should stand beside, I’ll do it for you with this [middle finger].” Will the president respond? Said an observer on Reddit, “never underestimate Trump’s stupidity, but I have to believe someone on his staff would physically remove the phone from his hand before he started a war of words with a master battle rapper with 21,000,000 followers.” In this chaos presidency, with even Eminem worried that the erratic president who commands the U.S. military may needlessly start a war that kills millions, that doesn’t seem a safe bet. II. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/oct/10/donald-trump-forbes-rex-tillerson-moron Donald Trump Trump challenges Tillerson to 'compare IQ tests' after reported 'moron' dig Trump suggests IQ battle with Tillerson: ‘I can tell you who is going to win’ President also claims of unprecedented legislative success in first nine months Donald Trump’s tense relationship with Rex Tillerson burst into view last week. Photograph: Evan Vucci/AP Martin Pengelly in New York, Sabrina Siddiqui and David Smith in Washington, and agencies Tuesday 10 October 2017 18.15 BST First published on Tuesday 10 October 2017 13.22 BST Donald Trump has challenged his secretary of state to “compare IQ tests”, if Rex Tillerson did call the president a “moron” as reported. Trump told Forbes magazine: “I think it’s fake news. But if he did [say] that, I guess we’ll have to compare IQ tests. And I can tell you who is going to win.” Bob Corker: White House is 'adult day care center' and Trump may start WWIII Read more The president spoke to the magazine on Friday and the interview was published online on Tuesday. Last week, an NBC story claimed Mike Pence, the vice-president, had to talk Tillerson out of resigning this summer, and that Tillerson had called Trump a “moron”. Some reports said he called the president “a fucking moron”. Tillerson said he never considered resigning but did not deny calling Trump a moron. His spokeswoman said he never used such language. In brief comments to reporters in the Oval Office hours after Trump’s comments to Forbes were published and ahead of a meeting with Henry Kissinger, the president was asked if he had undercut Tillerson by questioning his IQ. “No, I didn’t undercut anybody,” he said. “I don’t believe in undercutting people.” Later, at the daily White House briefing, the press secretary, Sarah Sanders, insisted: “The president never implied the secretary of state was not incredibly intelligent. He made a joke – nothing more than that. He has full confidence in the secretary of state … They’re working hand in hand to move the president’s agenda forward.” She chided reporters: “Maybe you guys should get a sense of humor and try it some time … He’s got 100% confidence in the secretary of state. We’re trying to move forward and talk about the agenda whereas you guys are trying to talk about who likes who.” Speaking to Forbes, Trump also claimed to have had “just about the most legislation passed of any president, in a nine-month period, that’s ever served. We had over 50 bills passed. I’m not talking about executive orders only, which are very important. I’m talking about bills.” Trump has made such claims of unprecedented legislative success before – and had them debunked. He added: “I also have another bill … an economic development bill, which I think will be fantastic. Which nobody knows about. Which you are hearing about for the first time.” Under that bill, he said, companies that kept jobs in America would be rewarded while those sending operations offshore would “get penalized severely”. Rex Tillerson says he won't quit but doesn't deny calling Trump a 'moron' Read more “It’s both a carrot and a stick,” Trump said. “It is an incentive to stay. But it is perhaps even more so – if you leave, it’s going to be very tough for you to think that you’re going to be able to sell your product back into our country.” In a volley of four tweets issued on Tuesday morning, meanwhile, Trump seemed to say he was about to issue an executive action on healthcare. “Since Congress can’t get its act together on HealthCare,” he wrote, “I will be using the power of the pen to give great HealthCare to many people – FAST.” Republican attempts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) have repeatedly failed in the Senate amid widespread opposition to plans that, nonpartisan analysis has said, would take access to health insurance away from millions of Americans. Trump’s threat of executive action – he has said he may sign an order to allow people to buy insurance across state lines – stood at odds with what he told Forbes. “The Democrats want to make a deal,” he said. “At the same time, I think I have a deal with the Republicans. So I have the best of both worlds. That’s business to a certain extent. I’m very able to make deals with Democrats if I have to.” Members of the president’s own party have voted down the ACA replacement plans and one deficit hawk, Bob Corker of Tennessee, has emerged as an establishment voice against planned tax reform. Over the weekend, Trump and Corker engaged in a bizarre exchange of insults on Twitter and, in Corker’s case, through the pages of the New York Times. “The failing New York Times set Liddle’ Bob Corker up by recording his conversation,” Trump tweeted on Tuesday, coining a new nickname based on Corker’s height (5ft 7in) and accusing the newspaper of malpractice. “[Corker] was made to sound a fool, and that’s what I am dealing with!” On Sunday one of the Times reporters, Jonathan Martin, tweeted that Corker had planned his attack. “He had two aides on line, one taping us,” Martin wrote. “Corker is effectively staging a slow-rolling public intervention with Trump.” Sanders joined the fray on Tuesday, telling reporters: “Senator Corker is entitled to his own opinion but he’s certainly not entitled to his own facts.” She also elaborated on Trump’s claim that Corker is responsible for the Iran nuclear deal, which the president has fiercely criticised. “Senator Corker worked with Nancy Pelosi and the Obama administration to pave the way for that legislation and basically rolled out the red carpet for the Iran deal,” she said. Sanders was challenged over the claim as reporters noted that Corker had opposed the deal. But she dug in, saying: “He worked with them on the legislation that rolled that out. That’s what helped I think put things in motion. He may have voted against the deal ultimately, but he not only allowed the deal to happen, he gave it credibility. I stand by my statement.” Asked if Corker should resign, as Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon has demanded, Sanders replied: “I think that’s a decision for Senator Corker and the people of Tennessee, not for us to decide.” Trump demands Congress fund border wall as price for keeping Dreamers Read more Also on Twitter on Tuesday, Trump turned his fire on Democrats over the possibility of a deal to protect Dreamers, young undocumented migrants brought to the country as children and previously protected by the Obama administration. Democratic leaders expressed strong opposition to a list of hardline demands the White House issued on Sunday. Among other measures, the White House said funding for a border wall with Mexico would be part of any accord. Democrats and Dreamers reacted with horror; the Congressional Hispanic Caucus said no deal could proceed if a wall was included. “The problem with agreeing to a policy on immigration is that the Democrats don’t want secure borders,” Trump wrote on Tuesday. “They don’t care about safety for USA.” Trump also complained again about the NFL, in which player protests during the anthem continue. “Why is the NFL getting massive tax breaks while at the same time disrespecting our anthem, flag and country?” he wrote. “Change tax law!” The NFL gave up its federal tax-exempt status a few years ago and files tax returns as a taxable entity. The final tweet of the early morning sequence took aim at ESPN and an anchor suspended over the anthem controversy. The tweet also returned to one of Trump’s main preoccupations: ratings. “With Jemele Hill at the mike, it is no wonder ESPN ratings have ‘tanked’. In fact, tanked so badly it is the talk of the industry!” -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
