I keep getting flak because I don’t post every single comment that arrives at this website, regardless of content. Well, this is explained in Da Roolz (go here, read comment #22), and if I didn’t exercise a bit of discretion, we’ve have a bunch of Trumpies and loons of other stripes all over the place. That would lead to one-on-one arguments that would dominate the discussion.
I’ve simply decided that those who extol Trump with great ardor are beyond the pale. The man, while you may say he’s canny, is also a narcissistic would-be Putin who is dangerous for American democracy, as we saw on January 6 and in his continuing cries that he really won the election, which was “stolen” from him.. Yes, sometimes I’ll allow someone to praise the Orange Man, but I, for one, am sick of him.
It’s very odd: when I criticize Trump, his supporters swarm out like angry termites, and when I criticize the Democrats I’m called an alt-righter. Comes with the territory, I suppose
The invasion of Ukraine has brought out quite a few people who wish Trump were here to run the U.S. during this stressful time.
But here: if you want a sample of a comment that didn’t get posted, but that you can feel free to answer, have a look at this one from reader “Stuart“:
Trump still bothers you? You ignorant regressive simps, not seeing through the lies of the msm. Djt [JAC: he means, of course, Trump] was hounded his entire term. And now we’re weaker with Brandon thanks to you. You either loathe liberty, merit, and this country or you’re simply imbeciles. Possibly both.
The gullible should not vote.
Perhaps you understand why some comments just don’t get through. In fact, after this I got two other comments from two different people saying that Biden and Obama lost Ukraine and Crimea, and that Trump would have saved it. Ergo we should should hosannahs to Trump. Not only are they shouting up a drainpipe, but they don’t realize that we almost lost DEMOCRACY under Trump, but no under Biden or Obama. All this has done is made me even more stink-eyed toward Trumpites. Anybody who can admire an ex-Pres who admires the killing of civilians and destruction of a democracy can go jump in the lake. But before their baptismal immersion, perhaps they should read this seven-tweet thread by the conservative never-Trumper Joe Walsh. Here’s the first tweet:
A refresher for all those who think Putin never would’ve invaded if Trump were still President. Bullshit. Nobody was softer on Russia than Trump. Trump spent 4 yrs attacking Ukraine. Trump laid the groundwork for this invasion. Putin wanted Trump to win a 2nd term. Thread: 1/
— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) February 23, 2022
Lagniappe from reader Ken, who says, “Prototypical Republican US Senate candidate.” Note how Witze says she respects Putin’s “Christian values” at the same time he’s murdering the citizens of Ukraine.
Lauren Witzke, the Delaware GOP's candidate for Senate in 2020, has nothing but praise for Putin and "his Christian nationalist nation": "I identify more with Putin's Christian values than I do with Joe Biden." pic.twitter.com/oQ2nhlVGCR
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) February 24, 2022
Nice of Stuart to share his distaste for democracy with us.
Sounds as if he was reflecting on his own shortcomings!
Wow! I feel sorry for you having to deal with crap like that when you’re trying to get ready. Sending you 2 cat cartoons to cheer you up!
It is obvious that “Stuart” is a rabid unthinking Trump loyalist
Nice though to see the word “simps.” It’s rarely used.
I recall it started what, in the 80’s? It has a catchy punch to it. I suppose it means “simpleton”, and is partly the origin of the show The Simpsons.
Your filtering is not only completely justified, but IMO a bit overly generous. You shouldn’t have to make that call time and again.
I’m coming to really appreciate the informed legal investigative reporting of Marcy Wheeler and her associates at emptywheel.net. The writing is very sophisticated, and the commentary is largely kept pure from outside idiocy by one team member in particular who has 30+ years experience in criminal law and absolutely no patience with fools, or even careless and foolish remarks (which everyone at some point is guilty of). He comes across as harsh, but he has kept the air there very clear and breathable.
I’m just very appreciative of your good work, Prof CC, and wish you didn’t have to waste time and effort dealing with the proud and ignorant.
I’m a big fan of Marcy Wheeler as well. She’s done a thorough analysis of just how well Biden has handled this crises. From allowing the transparency of our “top secret” intelligence reports to his ability to rally NATO leaders (even some, like Germany, who were recalcitrant). She contends, (and I agree, obviously) that Putin underestimated Biden’s ability to reinvigorate the NATO alliance.
Yes.
Yes
I’m not sure what the comment is supposed to do except to shame the readers here, or PCC(E), to go rethink their lives, and maybe cry.
Funny how our own selves can be expressed in our own writing, in a way that our self is actually trying to tell us something important, grabbing us by the shoulders and urging us to change before we make a real mistake.
If only we could hear what it is saying….
I trust you completely to filter out the Stuart-like noise. There is not a single redeeming trait that Trump possesses. He is not in any way “canny”. And as far as the MSM goes, all they have done is document what is in plain sight regarding the man. There’s no “spin” or liberal bias. If Putin had done this when Trump was in office the US would have done zero to aid the Ukraine.
You run one of the best blogs on the internet. Keep it up!
I concur that ‘canny’ can’t be applied to tRump. (From the dictionary: having or showing shrewdness and good judgment, especially in money or business matters.)
I second the rest of what you said too.
What is it they say? Those who resort to insults usually don’t have any actual arguments for their point. Of course for a lot of these people, saying they even have a point is generous.
Jerry, it’s your website and you can delete if you want to.
You would delete too, if it happened to you?
Delete if I want to,
Delete if I want to…
I wish Matt Taibbi would “moderate” his blog. My refusal to support the Canadian truckers evoked from one anonymous guy the ugliest most repugnant personal attacks and epithets I have ever seen on the internet. No one else seemed bothered at all, which gives some insight into who the readers are. Taibbi will not censor profanity or ad hominem at all. So I dont read the comments any more. This is the same as Quilette and Jordan Peterson commenters. It seems that only anti environmentalists, faux libertarians and free marketeers post comments. I rarely see anyone posting comments that are not illiterate blather. So reading WEIT is a welcome relief.
Yeah I don’t bother reading comments of places that refuse to adequately manage their sites, and this includes news sites. As soon as you take a hands off approach the pound bullies take over even though they may be a minority. Sort of like the people at the so-called “freedom convoy”.
The depth of ignorance in many of our citizens is far beyond understanding and Stuart is right in there with them. Trump spent 4 years of corruption and pure robbery of this country that will take years to get back. Every one of his cabinet officials did the same and most of them had to resign in shame. Even after the great toad led an insurrection and attempted to take over the government they still bend over and kiss his ass. It is disgusting and sickening to watch. He praises the murdering bastard doing his thing on Ukraine and they cheer it on.
I agree with everything you said, except for comparing Agent Orange to a toad. Toads are innocent creatures that do not deserve to be so insulted.
I’m sorry. I should have said the great bad hairdo.
Randall, What do you think was the greatest robbery of the US what Trump did, or what went on during the Financial crisis, or Iraq, or Afghanistan, or Covid? How did net worths change and whose?
There are so many it would take a long time to list all. You don’t really want to know anyway do you? How about starting off with 20 years of not paying taxes. All the illegal money to Trump from his Washington hotel or all the govt. money he racked in to his golf courses. Money wasted on the wall. The wasted money in all those items you listed were directly caused by the republicans. Who started the Iraq and Afghanistan War. Who was also in charge during the financial crisis. Oh, who got us out of all those things?
The saddest outcome of the Tr*mp years is that it revealed such a sizable portion of the populace who seemingly revere him. My guess on what motivates them is not that they don’t see all the man’s character flaws but that he justifies their own. They want to make virtues out of vices.
It would indeed ruin this site if they were allowed to poison it.
And if we want to issue a rejoinder to “Stuart,” an admittedly futile endeavor, we could send “him” this thread from former Congressman Joe Walsh: https://twitter.com/WalshFreedom/status/1496465622821228545?s=20&t=McpVfSQws8h651xeya5oCg
And with that, we see that Stuart is badly mistaken abt. how the Ukraine thing would have been different had Trump won the last election.
Good luck, professor. We don’t always agree, but you are doing a great job. I’ve never considered you excessively right or left; I’ve generally found you to be balanced. Two-party systems are generally more oppositional than compromise-friendly, but I have never seen a functioning two-party system with the levels of hostility and disrespect we have seen over the past few decades. I don’t see any light at the end of the tunnel. The excesses of both sides will continue to spiral, and they will both continue to attack the middle.
That commenter is a vile troll, and the site will be better without any future input from him.
This said, I wish the media concentrated less on Trump’s bizarre comments on Putin, and more on what Biden and other leaders of the free world should and intend to do in this dire situation.
That task would be made much easier if Trump had the decency to do what every other modern US president has done after leaving office: STFU about the performance of his successor.
Of course, every preceding US president, unlike Donald Trump, also ensured that there would be a peaceful transition of power to the following administration.
True. But we cannot expect of Trump to stop being Trump.
It is depressing how much awful there is out there.
“when I criticize Trump, his supporters swarm out like angry termites, and when I criticize the Democrats I’m called an alt-righter”
There’s no pleasing some people.
Seriously, PCCE, I love your website and I thank you for shielding us readers from the vile scribblings of Agent Orange’s fans. I’m sorry you have to read their bilge.
Re: Ukraine, I am aghast at what is happening. Putin is an autocrat and a scumbag. I don’t see a good way out of this.
Best . web . site. ever.
+1
Yeah, I agree.
I think you could remind readers more often about the very ordinary lunacy of the Republican party, which is the most dangerous organisation in human history — no hyperbole. If they get in another time, and they may, they will burn through all climate accords and drive humankind over the cliff. Of course, it’s your house and your rules and merely express my thoughts.
I made the mistake to listen to CPAC as it was streamed by David Pakman. I cannot believe what kind of people run as Republicans. The speaker was one Kimberly Guilfoyle. She’s a studied, accomplished woman, yet tells blatant lies and Republican clichés about “freedom” that is allegedly taken away by Democrats. Of course, she praised the Lord and Saviour, God-Emperor Donald J. Trump. This sounded like a 1930s speech of utter demagoguery with complete disregard of what is decent or truthful.
With that said, it looks like Republicans and their voters are quite generally compromised in their honesty and perhaps some mental faculties. I am not exactly a fan of the Democrats, and think understand why nobody likes them much, but it’s no comparison to what Republicans have become. When I read “Stuart” and the likes and their language (“simp”), I see nothing but projection. I don’t think readers here care much about MSNBC, yet he certainly hangs on Tucker Carlson’s lips and yearns for his golden master DJ`T.
When I read that last line…his golden master DJ’T…I first read it as “golden shower master DJ’T.” 🤣My mind’s in the gutter…or maybe it’s that Putin is on my mind.
Anyway, thanks for the comment, I agree with your assessment of today’s GOP. CPAC has become a grievance, conspiracy, hate-fest “conference” of unhinged loons.
Ms. Guilfoyle also allegedly bumps uglies with her fiancé, Donald Trump, Jr. — willingly, if it’s possible to believe someone might actually engage in such hideous carnal relations.
I can’t decide if Gavin Newsom is embarrassed or gleeful over this.
I remind my readers of the ordinary lunacy of the Republican party quite often enough, thank you. As people should know by now, I am not keen on people telling me what to concentrate on or write about.
What? Stuart is one very brain-washed simpleton. Traitor Trump was and is Putin’s stooge who was greasing the skids for the takeover of the Ukraine during his 4-year reign of terror, 2017-2021
Imagine how worse things would be now with Trump in charge! The West would not have been able to mount reprisals at all without the US.
Stuart seems nice.
As kind, generous, and educated as Donald Trump.
Lagniappe from reader Ken, who says, “Prototypical Republican US Senate candidate.” Note how Witze says she respects Putin’s “Christian values” at the same time he’s murdering the citizens of Ukraine.
I might argue that for the millions of religious nationalists in the Republican party, murdering is quite compatible with their Christian values- as long as it’s a perceived Christian doing the murdering.
For those right winged so called Christians, their operating principle has always been
“the ends justify the means”
For those familiar with Monty Python: these days the Silly Party is a much more reasonable option than the Republican Party.
It’s funny when someone supports the simpleton Trump while calling the majority of the global population, who are against that dangerous person, silly.
It is also funny but mostly ironic when the Russian Orthodox Putin, who when he used Donbass did the analogous thing to what the catholic Hitler did in Sudetenland, is lauded for his religion. I see that like for the latter dictator the former’s beliefs has been called on question by people close to him. “However, the sincerity of his Christianity has been rejected by his former advisor Sergei Pugachev.” [Wikipedia]
By the way, the first 9 Ukrainians that chose to flee to Sweden has arrived. They are welcome!
It is the secular thing to do, while murdering Ukrainians apparently is a particular set of religion’s thing to do.
Gee, I vaguely recall a US “President” who withheld already appropriated funds for defensive weapons for Ukraine….unless the Ukrainian PM would do him “a favor”. Doesn’t sound like he’d be much help to Ukraine now. Of course all of the Repub. Senators who are now criticizing Biden for not doing enough had a chance to vote out the former guy.
Coherent thought processes are missing from a lot of USians.
Not that there is anything new under the sun here, but what the last few years have demonstrated so clearly is the number of people who positively crave authoritarianism in countries as diverse as Russia and USA. Imagine the rampage of Trump if the USA didn’t have its constitutional/legal bulwarks against totalitarian and autocratic leaders.
The galling thing about Trump supporters is that they imagine themselves the epitome of patriots, and fiercely independent and freedom loving . Notwithstanding their brave, brave line in the sand (you know, against wearing masks during a pandemic), they are the exact opposite and crave authority and domination. No surprise the admiration for Putin amongst such people. For some, even abject submission to an invisible creator of the universe cannot fill that fist-shaped hole in the heart.
“… they are the exact opposite and crave authority and domination.”
Just wanted to repeat that for effect.
I’m reading Applebaum’s book, “Twilight of Democracy” and she aptly describes authoritarians as people who cannot tolerate diversity or grasp complexity.
I continue to be astounded by the number of right wingers who claim that America isn’t a democracy. They squeal and they rant and they jumble the words and, oh boy, do they confuse themselves. Then they shoot themselves in the foot by claiming Trump won the election by a landslide. Note, didn’t just win, but by a landslide.
“Er, hold on, what landslide?”
“Well, Trump got more votes than Biden, until fraud kicked in.”
“ Votes? Isn’t that the basic definition of a democracy?”
Oh, you liberals twist the facts to your own agenda!”
AND on the left at times – that we’re STILL a slave based society, apparently. I always want to ask these maniacs, right and left, “Have you visited, or even read about any other country. At all? Do you know ANY politics or history?”
Dunning Kruger is the sickness of our times.
D.A.
NYC
The democratic nature of the US is indeed called into question, see Gilens & Page, 2014
https://scholar.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/mgilens/files/gilens_and_page_2014_-testing_theories_of_american_politics.doc.pdf
Well, I’ve had all but one comment published so I feel pretty good!
It is a shame you have to edit the comments to weed out the maniacs (my editors have to do the same thing) but it is appreciated. One of the nice things about these parts is the quality of comments which I always read. Not everybody is right of course, but there’s a level of sane discourse which makes the environment… comfortable. And interesting.
To see how bad it could be, check out the comments below youtube clips. A classical music concert, say, can revert into some kind of crazed race war or ivermectin madness a short distance down. (sigh).
D.A.
NYC
Yes; one reason I like this site is BECAUSE the comments are edited, and I too appreciate the civility. I can go to a million other places online if I want to see unedited comments swirling around in a whirlpool of muck. Thanks to PCC for doing all of the weeding; I don’t think I’d have the stomach for it.
I have family in Eastern Europe. They are distant cousins and I have not kept in contact with them, but I have other cousins who do. Everyone in our family is numb with worry right now. I have no use for Trump. I do direct my anger and scorn at the other Republicans who refuse to stand up to him. I have long since lost my live-and-let-live attitude. When other people are trying to kill you, it is hard to be laid back. That said (to show my bias):
What exactly did Trump do with his time in office that would lead anyone to believe he could do a better job than Biden? As far as I know, Trump weakened NATO, withheld aid to Ukraine, supported Brexit and the break up of the European Union, called into question the integrity of an election that had very very few problems and supports efforts to make sure all future elections WILL be corrupt due to gerrymandering, voter suppression and oversight by officials who will play ball. Isn’t it strange that all of these are goals of Putin, which certainly raises the question of Trump being one of Putin’s puppet regimes.
It is time for Republicans to set aside politics, not only cooperate with investigations but avidly encourage and enlarge them. It is hell-and-gone-past-time for them to repudiate Trump and all of his MAGAmaggots.
Not to mention pressuring Zelensky for incriminating information on a political rival. Winning, folks, so much winning!
I hope your cousins in Europe are going to be okay.
Thanks. I hope so too. I hope all of us will be OK. When Trump praised the wonderful “peacekeepers” who invaded Ukraine, you all better believe he saw them in our own state of Georgia helping him overturn our election. I’m a life-long pacifist and I do not see a way of avoiding war.
Like others have said, WEIT is one of the few websites where reading the comments is worthwhile. I read WEIT for the educational content but also wildlife photos, humor, great book recommendations, a little music, some philosophy, and more. I am surprised at the volume of writing you put out everyday for free. Have a great voyage to Antarctica. More rockhopper penguins, please.
May I throughly support your comment, Mr Hoskisson. Living in Australia, the first thing I do in the morning is to read this website! It is inevitabally enlightening. (Sorry about the spelling!)
My perennial horror is Howard Kunstler (Clusterfuck nation) who seems to have developed an almost corrosive hatred of Bidens (plural). Once a quite sensible commentator on the American scene – he seems to have gone full-armour Q anon. Very sad.
Cannot resist seconding your assessment of James Howard Kunstler. His earlier books on city structural patterns were brilliant, acerbic, and often very funny. His “Long Emergency” books were likewise brilliant, and incidentally predicted the 2008 financial collapse a couple of years ahead. And the Clusterfuck Nation and Eyesore of the Month blogs began well. But then….something happened: starting before 2016, he began to get buggier and buggier, and is now quite round the bend. ???
A hearty 3rd to your 2nd. He had been one of my daily reads for years but since about 5 years ago I just check every other month or so in the hopes he might have gotten his mojo back, but alas, it just keeps getting worse.
Stuart seems to be very concerned about this “Brandon” person.
I think people who want to discuss politics should at least be able to spell the name of the president of the USA.
You surely know that “Brandon” is a euphemism for “Biden” so that people can threaten and diss the President without it being illegal
I wasn’t aware of that. I thought Stuart had made a genuine spelling mistake.
Would that stand up in court as a defence?
Look up “let’s go Brandon” and all will be clear.
Well I’ll be …
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minced_oath
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let's_Go_Brandon
” “Let’s Go Brandon” is a political slogan that has been widely used as a minced oath for “Fuck Joe Biden” in reference to Joe Biden, the 46th president of the United States.”
… not that the specimen of writing from Stuart actually went that far.
Jerry, a bit late to this comment thread but don’t rule out the possibility that these are simply troll accounts whose mission is to stir up hatred and division. It is a useful way to fight against us. Block them without concern.
I initially guessed that “Djt” was some txt-speak for “idjit”….