{"id":134735,"date":"2017-09-18T10:51:17","date_gmt":"2017-09-18T16:51:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=134735"},"modified":"2017-09-18T11:56:40","modified_gmt":"2017-09-18T17:56:40","slug":"we-are-in-the-hands-of-an-adolescent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/09\/18\/we-are-in-the-hands-of-an-adolescent.html","title":{"rendered":"“We are in the hands of an adolescent”"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve been taking a hiatus in my “Tweetizen Trump” posts, if only because making the same comments over and over again (“That’s untrue, Donald. That’s dangerous to say, Donald. That’s already been debunked, Donald. That’s a really childish thing to tweet, Donald.”) was getting old, at least to write.<\/p>\n

But Trump’s obnoxious retweet of a stupid little video pastiche<\/a>\u00a0that makes it look like he hit Hillary Clinton with a golf ball HA-HA-HA<\/em> is just so deranged as to warrant comment.<\/p>\n

Never mind that the person who was retweeted has, himself, an awful history of racist, anti-Semitic, homophobic, transphobic, etc., tweets, and that the President of the United States really should have people doing at least some general checkout of folk whom he’s retweeting so that he doesn’t get smeared by associating with such comments.<\/p>\n

No, just the very nature of video clip is so ill-spirited, so mean and rude, as to just make me shake my head in astonishment. Even now, after so many months of Trump racing to the bottom of incivility.<\/p>\n

The two arguments I’ve heard defending Trump’s retweet (or at least trying to defuse people’s objections over it) are:<\/p>\n

1. “Oh, get over it, it’s just a joke.”<\/b><\/p>\n

‘Tain’t funny, McGee.<\/p>\n

Or maybe there are two kinds of people in the world: people who find faux violence funny, and people who don’t. Maybe this is related to why I don’t laugh at the Three Stooges. It’s not that I don’t have a sense of humor, it’s that humor that’s so bald-faced about humiliation and physical assault just doesn’t usually tickle my fancy.<\/p>\n

Put that in the context of faked violence against a political opponent,<\/i> as expressed (through retweet) by the most powerful political leader in the United States,<\/i> and it becomes even less funny.<\/p>\n

Which leads to …<\/p>\n

2. “<\/strong>Well, what about person X who told a violent joke about Trump?”<\/b><\/p>\n

I will note first that the “Well, he<\/i> did it first!”<\/i> is the most common excuse given by seven year-olds. And one that usually doesn’t go very far.<\/p>\n

The most common example used here Kathy Griffin<\/a>, who incited outrage from the Right (and many on the Left) for a picture with her holding a (faux) bloodied, severed head of Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

As noted, a lot of folk on the Left were outraged by this, too, and condemned Griffin for it. As opposed to the folk on the Right who seem to think the golf ball thing is just a subject for yocks. And while Kathy Griffin was generally reviled (and commercially punished) for such imagery, Ted Nugent’s famously violent comments<\/a> about then-President Obama only netted him an invitation to visit the Trump White House. (Yes, that’s a “he did it first” thing, but it’s also a sign of hypocrisy on the subject.)<\/p>\n

Most importantly, though, Kathy Griffin is not only a private citizen, she is a comedian.<\/i> She is expected<\/i> to say and do things that outrage, that are caustic and mean. And if she steps over the line (as it seems she did), she can be easily fired (as she was), or just plain not paid attention to any longer.<\/p>\n

Neither option is, sadly, available with Donald Trump, who, even as he visible and vocally longs to be the Most Admired President Ever, continues to piss on the dignity of the office. To the approving laughter of too many of his followers.<\/p>\n


\n
\n<\/a>
\nTrump’s vile retweet shows he’s an abnormal president<\/a><\/span>
\nPresident Trump’s retweet of a clip showing him taking a golf swing then a clip of Hillary Clinton falling speaks volumes about the man.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

View on Google+<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve been taking a hiatus in my “Tweetizen Trump” posts, if only because making the same comments over and over again (“That’s untrue, Donald. That’s dangerous to say, Donald. That’s already been debunked, Donald. That’s a really childish thing to tweet, Donald.”) was getting old, at least to write. But Trump’s obnoxious retweet of a … Continue reading ““We are in the hands of an adolescent””<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":134741,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106,3,358,1071],"tags":[1077,1205],"class_list":["post-134735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-plusposts","category-blogging","category-poor-citizenship","category-trump","tag-trump","tag-twitter"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/unnamed-10.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":132686,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/01\/29\/candidate-for-life-donald-trump.html","url_meta":{"origin":134735,"position":0},"title":"Candidate-for-Life Donald Trump","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 29-Jan-17 12:39pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Yes, if you watch live TV, you may run into what looks like a campaign ad for Donald Trump. And you'd actually be right, because the \"Defend Donald Trump\" group is a PAC which is supporting Donald Trump's 2020 campaign.\"But Dave,\" you might say, \"Donald Trump just won the election.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":131900,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/10\/30\/dear-donald-trump-screw-you.html","url_meta":{"origin":134735,"position":1},"title":"Dear Donald Trump: Screw You","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 30-Oct-16 10:12pm","format":false,"excerpt":"No, really. Just ... go away. Take your self-aggrandizing demagoguery and fear-bating and stop flinging poo at anything that comes in your line of sight.Yeesh. Trump stokes skepticism of Colorado voting system Donald Trump for the second day in a row questioned the validity of this swing state's largely mail-in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":127662,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/08\/23\/donald-trump-the-living-overton-window-shifter.html","url_meta":{"origin":134735,"position":2},"title":"Donald Trump: The Living Overton Window Shifter","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 23-Aug-15 11:41pm","format":false,"excerpt":"The continued polling success of Donald Trump is beginning to spell more than how people react to a well-known person running for office. Instead, it's starting to be about the thrill of changing the Overton Window (what ideas are acceptable to discuss) in a time when people are feeling stressed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":131183,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/08\/02\/donald-trump-and-the-big-rig.html","url_meta":{"origin":134735,"position":3},"title":"Donald Trump and the Big "Rig"","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 2-Aug-16 7:31am","format":false,"excerpt":"Trump (and his cheering section) are now starting to suggest that the November elections will be \"rigged\" against him. There are no details provided (of course).Is this the Donald trying to set up an excuse for a loss? Trying to gin up support from his conspiracy-minded fans? Or simply finding\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":129094,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/08\/john-scalzi-on-donald-trump.html","url_meta":{"origin":134735,"position":4},"title":"John Scalzi on Donald Trump","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 8-Dec-15 5:34pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Executive Summary (in my own words) of his 8 Points:1. Trump is Trump, doing whatever it takes the keep the spotlight. Too bad about the dead planets left behind, Galactus must feed.2. That Trump, saying the stuff Trump has been saying, has been the GOP poll leader for months indicates\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":137075,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2018\/09\/07\/because-donald-misses-a-chance-to-be-petty.html","url_meta":{"origin":134735,"position":5},"title":"Because Donald never misses a chance to be petty","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 7-Sep-18 4:16pm","format":false,"excerpt":"On the bright side, he sounds more like a snotty twelve-year-old than the usual fractious nine-year-old. President Donald Trump claims he fell asleep watching former President Barack Obama\u2019s speech about the current political climate. Trump says: \u201cI\u2019m sorry, I watched it, but I fell asleep.\u201d He adds, \u201cI found he\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Trump-and-Rick-Scott.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134735"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134735\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":134742,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134735\/revisions\/134742"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}