This scrutiny of the Times interview shows just how unfit for office Trump is, how uninformed and uninterested he is about real policy, actual solutions, and the way the law is designed to function. This is what people wanted- it just continues to baffle me. God help us all.
I do not think, when Trump's horrifying policy agendas are actually, painfully deployed, that people will be quite so sanguine about the monster that they happily elected.
"He's staggeringly unfit. Always has been. Always will be." That pretty much sums it up, but what does it say about the people who voted for him. It says that they don't care, they would not vote for a Black/Asian woman. I really don't want to read any more articles about who's to blame because Harris/Walz lost (it's the voters who're to blame). Or, any more articles about disaffected young men who are "drifting" and "lost" because they aren't, they've bought into the right wing rhetoric about how they're losing status and power, and, surprise, young women aren't falling into this trap. Except for Heather Cox Richardson's essay today, I haven't seen anyone else discuss Biden honoring Francis Perkins or doing a deep dive into why there will be no Republican woman chairing Congressional Committees come January. How about we call it out - misogyny and racism - and start addressing the real issues in the US.
trump is stupid. I heard him say that he's against vaccine mandates. He has no idea that states mandate vaccines for incoming Kindergarteners.
However...
AZ allows vaccine exemptions. (cR-AZy-30 yrs of an R majority legislature)
About 8.5% of Arizona kindergartners were exempt from childhood vaccines last school year, significantly higher than the national average of about 3.3%.... In Arizona, parents need only submit a "personal beliefs" form to their kid's school for their child to be exempted from vaccine requirements.
I think it was a deliberate move to display the reality of the "person who had the biggest impact on the world." They avoided editorializing about what he said, just let it stand on its own.
I looked at that photo on the cover and have a second take: he does not look attractive at all. He looks mean, decidedly so, like he posed purposely with that look. I would like to know the story about that photo. He looks vengeful or like he's been hurt deeply and he's got work to do to get even. He stares out at the world with squinty eyes. He looks worried. His mouth is down-turned.. he projects anger...
Other than that he is made up well, dressed well but this portrait photo does not give me comfort.
His refusal to ever directly answer any question is both intentional and utterly maddening. It's politician speak but it's also a habit Trump honed after years of being the celebrity headline poster creep for NYC. This time around, though, there are some deadly serious questions in front of him - Ukraine, Israel, Russia, the impact and deployment of his deportation plans, the possibility that his tariff plans will shatter the US economy, vaccines, promised investigations and arrests of domestic opponents. And he can't even provide a coherent answer on any one of them. The possibility that he'll blow one of those up in spectacular fashion, especially given his lunatic cadre of appointments, is high. It's terrifying
The man had never heard the word "groceries" before this year, and of course, when it is a revelation to him, it must be a revelation to everyone even if it's common knowledge, because it feeds into his inflated sense of self-importance and perception of being unique and so special.
Well of course Trump wants to shut down the Department of Education. Make America Ignorant Again … or at least as dumb (and numb) as me. He - and MAGA - want to reverse the accomplishments of the Sixties. Segregation again, anybody? Negroes and Jews and Muslims in their places. Women in their backs, and muzzled. O happy days!
"public schools are secretly referring students for gender-affirming surgery without parental consent..."
You were too nice. He actually said, at an incredible number of his rallies, that the children have the surgery AT SCHOOL (he called it a "horrible operation"), leaving in the morning as one gender and coming home after school as another gender.
That this didn't make his supporters think twice about voting for him (if nothing else did) makes me crazy.
WHEW!! Thanks for this Noah. I would not otherwise have easily read the Time piece. I hope people read it or this. It's breathtaking to consider just who we have elected to hold the most powerful position we have to give and what it will mean in/to the world. Already Trump is talking about these issues as an autocrat, as if he has supreme power and no checks on him.
And Trump surrounds himself with evil doers; there will be no minders like last time, ready to quit. He has himself out on the gangplank regarding his promises to the far right. At the same time he needs to straddle with the rest of us ( lie, con )and behave just short of full out alarming.
I hope that there are some quiet preparations and mobilization to impeach yet again.
But back up a bit.. how can we give this man that office? How can he take the oath again to the Constitution, when he broke his oath and apparently did not know what it meant?
Trump will be an illegitimate president. He is ineligible to HOLD office according to the Constitution, regardless of winning the vote, regardless of the Supreme Court's decision.
Inre Posse Comitatus: that law no longer exists. If Trump orders it to be done, according to the SCOTUS, it’s not illegal. No general, colonel or anyone else in the military will be able to resist *and* stay out of the stockade.
This scrutiny of the Times interview shows just how unfit for office Trump is, how uninformed and uninterested he is about real policy, actual solutions, and the way the law is designed to function. This is what people wanted- it just continues to baffle me. God help us all.
I do not think, when Trump's horrifying policy agendas are actually, painfully deployed, that people will be quite so sanguine about the monster that they happily elected.
"He's staggeringly unfit. Always has been. Always will be." That pretty much sums it up, but what does it say about the people who voted for him. It says that they don't care, they would not vote for a Black/Asian woman. I really don't want to read any more articles about who's to blame because Harris/Walz lost (it's the voters who're to blame). Or, any more articles about disaffected young men who are "drifting" and "lost" because they aren't, they've bought into the right wing rhetoric about how they're losing status and power, and, surprise, young women aren't falling into this trap. Except for Heather Cox Richardson's essay today, I haven't seen anyone else discuss Biden honoring Francis Perkins or doing a deep dive into why there will be no Republican woman chairing Congressional Committees come January. How about we call it out - misogyny and racism - and start addressing the real issues in the US.
Thank you, Patricia. Beautifully said. And great, clear essay by Noah Berlatzky, who never disappoints.
It's not just the Trump voters (And where the hell is Vance?). It's the 90 million non-voters who couldn't be bothered.
The greatest extemporaneous orator of gibberish in the history of the presidency
And unaware of it too! He believes his constant verbiage is genius … the MIT Connection.
Perfect
trump is stupid. I heard him say that he's against vaccine mandates. He has no idea that states mandate vaccines for incoming Kindergarteners.
However...
AZ allows vaccine exemptions. (cR-AZy-30 yrs of an R majority legislature)
About 8.5% of Arizona kindergartners were exempt from childhood vaccines last school year, significantly higher than the national average of about 3.3%.... In Arizona, parents need only submit a "personal beliefs" form to their kid's school for their child to be exempted from vaccine requirements.
https://www.axios.com/local/phoenix/2024/11/27/arizona-childhood-vaccine-exemptions-increase
Basically, the Times didn't bother to take the time or make the effort to edit for clarity because nothing matters with trump.
I think it was a deliberate move to display the reality of the "person who had the biggest impact on the world." They avoided editorializing about what he said, just let it stand on its own.
They did do a fact check.
https://time.com/7201574/person-of-the-year-2024-donald-trump-fact-check/
The glorification of a criminal, a rapist, of bad taste, of non-culture and ignorance is on this cover. Berk!
It is trying to make him look attractive, looking towards the future when he is the personification of the 80’s yuppie asshole.
I looked at that photo on the cover and have a second take: he does not look attractive at all. He looks mean, decidedly so, like he posed purposely with that look. I would like to know the story about that photo. He looks vengeful or like he's been hurt deeply and he's got work to do to get even. He stares out at the world with squinty eyes. He looks worried. His mouth is down-turned.. he projects anger...
Other than that he is made up well, dressed well but this portrait photo does not give me comfort.
I agree. Disgusting.
Yes, there was a lot of photoshopping going on in that photo.
Exactly. But at least for once he is not bright orange fluorescent
If he was a decent person I wouldn’t mind him being orange.
His refusal to ever directly answer any question is both intentional and utterly maddening. It's politician speak but it's also a habit Trump honed after years of being the celebrity headline poster creep for NYC. This time around, though, there are some deadly serious questions in front of him - Ukraine, Israel, Russia, the impact and deployment of his deportation plans, the possibility that his tariff plans will shatter the US economy, vaccines, promised investigations and arrests of domestic opponents. And he can't even provide a coherent answer on any one of them. The possibility that he'll blow one of those up in spectacular fashion, especially given his lunatic cadre of appointments, is high. It's terrifying
The man had never heard the word "groceries" before this year, and of course, when it is a revelation to him, it must be a revelation to everyone even if it's common knowledge, because it feeds into his inflated sense of self-importance and perception of being unique and so special.
“Verbal diarrhea “ with the same fucking words repeated no matter what the topic. He’s a complete imbecile.
Well of course Trump wants to shut down the Department of Education. Make America Ignorant Again … or at least as dumb (and numb) as me. He - and MAGA - want to reverse the accomplishments of the Sixties. Segregation again, anybody? Negroes and Jews and Muslims in their places. Women in their backs, and muzzled. O happy days!
"public schools are secretly referring students for gender-affirming surgery without parental consent..."
You were too nice. He actually said, at an incredible number of his rallies, that the children have the surgery AT SCHOOL (he called it a "horrible operation"), leaving in the morning as one gender and coming home after school as another gender.
That this didn't make his supporters think twice about voting for him (if nothing else did) makes me crazy.
WHEW!! Thanks for this Noah. I would not otherwise have easily read the Time piece. I hope people read it or this. It's breathtaking to consider just who we have elected to hold the most powerful position we have to give and what it will mean in/to the world. Already Trump is talking about these issues as an autocrat, as if he has supreme power and no checks on him.
And Trump surrounds himself with evil doers; there will be no minders like last time, ready to quit. He has himself out on the gangplank regarding his promises to the far right. At the same time he needs to straddle with the rest of us ( lie, con )and behave just short of full out alarming.
I hope that there are some quiet preparations and mobilization to impeach yet again.
But back up a bit.. how can we give this man that office? How can he take the oath again to the Constitution, when he broke his oath and apparently did not know what it meant?
Trump will be an illegitimate president. He is ineligible to HOLD office according to the Constitution, regardless of winning the vote, regardless of the Supreme Court's decision.
Inre Posse Comitatus: that law no longer exists. If Trump orders it to be done, according to the SCOTUS, it’s not illegal. No general, colonel or anyone else in the military will be able to resist *and* stay out of the stockade.
Yikes! That rocker done left the porch!
Yup, the media is giving him a big old handjob now…. They’re scared to death he’s going to war against them and that’s the end of free press.
Kudos for going through the whole piece and parsing it out with calm articulation.
For me, it would be easier to review a horror movie.