It's not over until the Cat Lady sings - Trump thread #133

[Spandauer]

Bigly Thanks to BruceAndNosh for the thread title.

Hopefully people can open this link OK.
https://x.com/amy_siskind/status/1818015701023735951?s=46&t=sQEeBsNjiTta_B_D1Qh6IQ

Previous thread:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/politics/5058103-trump-trial-time-banish-all-memories-of-mueller

When I typed "walk", I meant "wipe", of course. Senility progressing apace, sorry.

He was allowed to talk over Hillary Clinton, which showed him as the bully he is, and yet MAGAs voted in droves for him. I just don't get it.

Did they mute him with Hillary?

I know he walked up and down behind her, sometimes getting very close, as she was talking. I thought that was awful. Quite intimidating actually.

Edit: just read last post! Not muted.

I don’t think they muted him in 2020 either with Biden, just for the last one they were both muted when it wasn’t their turn and to be honest it did Trump a favour.

In the past she's been uneven. Absolutely killer sharp in hearings questioning Bill Barr, Brett Kavanaugh, et al, where she'd had time to prepare, but too rambling in answers to off the cuff questions. Previously, she could sometimes sound defensive and bit whiny in debate. In her first campaign and at the beginning of the Biden administration, I felt very strongly that they had trouble finding speechwriters whose style worked for her delivery, but they seem to have cracked that now, so hopefully they've managed to do the same with the rest.

If she can get herself into a courtroom/prosecutor mindset, I think she'll do just fine. I heard on Deadline Whitehouse that she and HRC have become very close and that Hilary's been advising her, so that should help. I hope they don't mute them (and that they use different camera angles). Biden's performance was awful, but those things really didn't help as they made him look like he was staring vacantly when he was actually taking notes.

I do think the campaign has been pitch perfect so far, so fingers crossed.

Absolutely killer sharp in hearings questioning

Oh yes. I've watched her in a few. Asking Kavanaugh him about laws that give the Government power over a man's body was pure class! (None of course)

When Harris debated Pence in 2020, she famously dealt with him interrupting her (no mike muting) by repeating "I'm speaking" until he stopped. But Pence is a fairly polite man, Trump isn't. His response to "I'm speaking" would be to carry on talking over her saying that what he has to say is more important.

He's been really off the last couple of days. I don't know if he's tired or depressed, has given up or is sedated up to his eyeballs,.

The thing with the MAGACult is that they see Trump's 'talking over' and bullying during a debate as being 'assertive' and 'dominating'. It 'proves' what a mensch he is. You see the same thing (or attempts at it) when Cult members are being interviewed by reporters they perceive as being 'the fake media'. This is why they're complaining that having the mikes cut during a debate is 'unfair' and 'censorship'. They love nothing better than to see him babble complete nonsense over the considered remarks of a debate opponent. Probably because they don't want to hear the sense that person is speaking. His blathering loudly is the Cult's version of sticking fingers in ears and loudly saying "Lalalalala I can't hear you!".

TBH I haven't heard any of the specific rules for the debates either. I wonder if they're still being discussed.

He's been really off the last couple of days. I don't know if he's tired or depressed, has given up or is sedated up to his eyeballs,.

Plenty of (less than complimentary) comments online about this image of him yesterday taken whilst visiting the border in AZ. Even allowing for high temperatures, he doesn't look well. And melting orange makeup doesn't do well in heat!

(Olivier Touron/AFP via Getty)

@Spandauer

I saw a close up of him from AZ. I couldn't believe the shitty makeup job they sent him out with. Bad colour, uneven application, it honestly looked like he was wearing very badly applied 'brown face'. I swear I could do foundation better than that when I was 7 years old.

I've been in Arizona summer heat and where I live it also frequently gets to 100+ in the Summer. There are ways to keep one's 'face' on even in that heat. And I'd assume he has a 'team' for touchups.

Texas edging blue ? Ironically proving LBJs prediction. Or was it a prophecy ?

I'm pretty sure Trump does his own make up. That's why it looks so crap

That's absolutely true, but nothing's going to dissuade the magas. I mean, Trump could literally come burn their houses down and they'd find a way to ascribe a noble motive.

But hopefully it turns off the undecideds?

On another note, in addition to having given a stunner of a speech, Oprah looks incredible. I'm sure she's had some work done and I want the phone number of whoever did it

I think he's got new teeth, he was very lispy recently, and in the car showroom press conference, he seemed drugged up. Sluggish, rambling, incoherent.

I wonder when Melania will appear? I bet she is praying he doesn't win, she hated it first time round.

On another note, in addition to having given a stunner of a speech, Oprah looks incredible. I'm sure he's had some work done and I want the phone number of whoever did it

Yes. And she's lost a lot of weight. She makes me think of me... yo-yo weight loss and she looked really slim. I did wonder if it's that whatdoyoucallit thing everyone is talking about now for weight loss. I won't go there, I'd worry about doing damage to myself and I'm too old

@BustingBaoBun

I was wondering about the possibilities of TIAs. It would account for the odd speech. And the Project 2025-ers are so anxious to get him elected so they can power through their Agenda that they'd do anything to keep him in the race, including ignoring health issues. And God knows, Trump's ego is huge enough to ignore/deny that he's not at his 'full power' + his incentive re his federal legal woes.

Sort of like Reagan's 2nd term. He was already exhibiting signs of dementia but the GOP managed to shield him and get him re-elected. Then apparently 'ran' his administration from behind the scenes. People said similar about Dubya. Not that he was non compos mentis, but that he wasn't really interested in being POTUS and was pretty content to let Cheney run things whilst he enjoyed being the 'public face' of the administration.

I wonder about Melania, too. But I have a feeling that now that Barron is 18 and probably being 'funded' directly, she may have less financial incentive to act the trophy wife. She's probably still there for the 'lifestyle' but less likely to want to play the adoring wife on stage and apparently whatever legal agreement they have doesn't include 'public performance on demand'. God, I'd love to see that prenup/renegotiated postnup.

She’s admitted it. I think she’s on Ozempic.

And the Project 2025-ers are so anxious to get him elected so they can power through their Agenda that they'd do anything to keep him in the race, including ignoring health issues.

Anyone remember "Whoops Apocalypse" (the TV series) with the ever day-old Russian premier ?

Thanks @AcrossthePond55 that's interesting. I remember the Reagan years a little and certainly the GeorgeW. They are like pussycats compared to the nightmare that is Trump.
And yes, he would never admit he wasn't anything but perfect. There's hilarious footage out there with him saying again and again on different subjects "I know more about the....than anyone"
"There's no one out there who knows more than me about..."
There is nothing he doesn't know... as if... his briefings had to be written in baby language with bullet points!
As far as Melania... she must be paid to stay married to him surely. She looks at him with loathing at times. What a price to pay, talk about selling your soul. There's not many women I dislike but I'm afraid she is in that category.
Years ago I had high hopes that Barron wouldn't turn out like his brothers. Sadly, that's exactly what's happened. A chip off the old block as it were.

And then we have the lovely Gus and Hope Walz, what a contrast.

I cannot believe we are going through this nightmare again with the orange turd. Let's hope it all ends in November.

I cannot believe we are going through this nightmare again with the orange turd. Let's hope it all ends in November.

I really thought he was done the last time, but he's like the quintessential scene in the horror movie series where the baddie gets shot, stabbed, blown up in a nuclear explosion and then in the last scene, rises up again behind the unsuspecting hero. Or a New York cockroach. You blast them with spray, stomp on them, fire grenades, and they scuttle out from under it all.

@BustingBaoBun
@Wallaw

Honestly, I do believe that if when he loses this go round, he'll try again in 2028. Yes, I know he'll be older than dirt, but unless he's in prison or 6 feet under his ego will not allow him not to try again. He cannot stand being known as a loser so he'll have to keep on trying to 'win'.

New York cockroach is right.
I've just got an email from The Economist, saying amongst other things:
"Our cover this week comes from the Democratic convention in Chicago. It has been a joyous, heady celebration by a political party that only a month ago thought it was staring at defeat. I have listened to one speaker after another tease Donald Trump for being mean-minded, complaining, selfish, negative and annoying—like your neighbour’s incessant leaf-blower, said Barack Obama; and they have contrasted him with their own nominee, Kamala Harris. The convention was all about her character and her life-story. Americans now know not only that she’s brave and kind and dedicated to public service, but also that she worked at McDonald’s and that every year she teases her husband by playing the rambling voicemail he left asking her for a first date."

"So far, it’s working. Since Joe Biden stepped back, near-certain defeat has turned into a race that is too close to call. But we argue that Ms Harris needs more. To strengthen her claim to the White House she should also unspool a single thread running from her life-story to her principles and to show how that leads to a programme for government. She has reasons for building her campaign around personality. Her overriding task is to defeat Mr Trump, and it is a vital one in which guile and cunning are permitted. But you can be desperate for Ms Harris to win against Mr Trump and still wonder how good she would be in office."

Her overriding task is to defeat Mr Trump, and it is a vital one in which guile and cunning are permitted. But you can be desperate for Ms Harris to win against Mr Trump and still wonder how good she would be in office.

Yes, you can wonder, but we've all seen how bad Trump was in office (and out of it) and we really don't need to go back, we have to go forward with Kamala and Walz working together for the USA. How VP Harris governs will only be a question once Trump has not been re-elected to follow Project 2025 and form a hereditary dictatorship. Mind you, I say this, and none of his family seems to be as conspicuously alongside him as they were during his Presidency. Have they abandoned him? Don't want to be held liable for his debts? Or seen to be associating with a felon?

The thing is by the how many GOP candidates will have been sacrificed on the altar of his ego ?

Once again, there are odd UK echoes here. For a while the Tories were in thrall to Boris. The man literally hid on a fridge and lied to the national press live, and nothing could dent him.

However now isn't just 2016 is ? It's 2016 plus 8 years. And I keep reading articles across the US that say the whole US is sick and tired of his antics. You can only pull this shit for so long.

OMG really?

I know he's not the sort to skulk off tail between legs, but he'll be what... 80 something, and probably the same age as Biden who he accused of being too old. Surely the Republicans wouldn't countenance him yet another time if he were to lose. He'll just be white noise at that point surely... I think people are bored this time round with same old same old...
I want it to be a resounding victory for KH, one that can't be argued with! But he wouldn't say when interviewed that he would accept the result. It's dangerous times isn't it...

@Jaichangecentfoisdenom Great post and article.