Let’s see… The good is that the Right is holding its ground over the Left’s tantrum. I need you all to hear that up front: I AGREE WITH THE SHUTDOWN. I would agree with it on purely conservative morals, but I also happen to be a staunch supporter of smaller government. A government shutdown means we have the absolute minimum government (well, sort of, but you get the idea) and therefore I support the shutdown. The longer it drags on, the more we know just what we can do without.
The bad is that the Left is fighting back with the usual cycle of lies, half truths, and more lies. I need you all to hear this up front: I DO NOT AGREE WITH THE LEFT on any of this stuff.
And now, the ugly.
I often joked in private about Obama being the Teleprompter in Chief. Well, Trump is the MemeLord in Chief, and it’s a problem. I realize some of you may not consider it a problem at all, or a very minor one at best, but I DO consider it a problem. One of the sticking points I had, back during Trump 1.0, was the “mean tweets.” It really stuck in my craw. I’m going to be honest… it still does.
When I see Trump standing up, with Vance or with Melania, or even one of his kids, I see the dad, the grandfather, a righteous man who’s doing his best for his country. I respect that all to hell. Watching him erupt out of a sea of secret service to pump fist, blood streaming down his face, that was awe inspiring (also, I want those guys fired because he should NOT have been allowed to do that, but I digress). This is not Trump 1.0, and I see the good he’s doing. I see him brokering peace. I see him strengthening our economy. I see him doing infrastructure things in the government that are good, and will last for years to come.
But my FUCKING gawd, when he gets tweeting, I just want to vomit. I really do. I get it… he’s “just a man” and he wants to stick it to the folks who are poking and shooting at him. And if he was Trump the billionaire or Trump the last President, I’d sigh and move on. But he isn’t those things. He’s Trump, our current, sitting President. He’s the man leading our country. And things that I might find (or do find) amusing coming from one of us, I find just plain wrong coming from the Oval Office.
From the White House twitter account today:
As someone formerly of the middle, and honestly not that far out from the middle, it just turns me off. Sure it’s “just” a mean tweet. But it speaks volumes. I don’t mind the text as much, but the image (it’s actually a screenshot of a video) is just too much. It takes AWAY from the message. It makes it too damn easy to say, “Oh, it’s just Trump being a twit(ter) again.” And I don’t want that said.
Then there’s this one:
There’s my President! Honestly? Absolutely! Blunt, honest, to the point. The memes make it worse, not better. THIS makes it better.
Sometimes he does such an amazing job.
Totally on point. He put the blame where it belongs, on the Left. But he doesn’t stoop. He doesn’t take the cheap shot. He doesn’t dig the knife in.
That’s the President I want. I cling to the times when Vance gets up and speaks. He has all of Trump’s bravado and strength, without the mean digs. I want to see Trump do it. I’ve SEEN him do it, and when he does, it’s truly inspiring. And the thing is… those “mean tweets” are the things that turn away the undecided voters. It doesn’t do a damn thing to the entrenched Left OR the Right. It’s the bulk of voters who could sway either way, who might vote with Trump if he’d just stop being such an ASS at times.
I struggle with the images of pie charts showing, “…60% of Americans are against the Democratic shut down of the government!” (X.com). Just like when the Left posts up this stuff, it’s a poll. It’s a fucking poll, and that poll means very little in the grand scheme of things. It’s the same pandering that the Left does, and it makes me angry. These kinds of statistics are entirely meaningless, as we’ve said over and over again about the Left. If it doesn’t mean shit on the Left, why does it suddenly mean something awesome on the Right? It doesn’t. It just doesn’t.
What does this have to do with the shutdown? Nothing. It’s stupid. Then there’s this one, which is just stupid and misleading, because service members get backpay after government shutdowns anyhow. He’s just saying he’ll do what he has to do anyhow. UGH.
In the grand scheme of things, Trump’s ad campaigns (because that’s really what they are) and bad memes are momentarily embarrassing for our government. As some on the Right like to say, “a nothingburger.” But they do affect “in the middle” voters. Frankly, I want every “in the middle” voter on our side. I’m tired of hearing, “You know, I like a lot of Trump’s stuff, but man, he’s hard to listen to, and he’s … not presidential.” I look them in the eye and say, “I don’t like it when he’s like that, either. Here’s the Trump I support.” And then I share the good things he’s done.
You can say image doesn’t matter all you like, but it DOES matter. We *ALL* judge books by their cover. A lot of people never even read the back to see if the book is decent. They just shrug, shelve it, and move on. Yes, we’re getting a lot of people over to the Right. I’d like to see more, though.
I’m struggling with it right now. But I know, I can say hey I don’t agree with those tweets. I can say that I hate it when he says stupid things. That doesn’t mean I don’t like what he’s doing. I can even dislike portions of what he’s doing and still support the rest. But this is probably the most difficult part of moving Right, for me. It feels incredibly wrong at times, and it makes me angry. š
Me, I like the digs and crap-stirring. See, I think part of the problem is we let ourselves be hoodwinked into believing all these elected and appointed folks are ‘better’. ‘They’ tell us they’re the ‘finer clay’ and we accept it and pay for their public pomp and circumstance (Mrs. Pelosi interrupting a hearing to demand a witness refer to her as senator [show deference] is an example). RED MAN DEFIANT (Trump) puts all that garbage in the bin and forces ‘them’ to be what they are (just people, no better than anyone) and forces us to grow up just a little and see the ‘nobles’ as what they are (again, just people no better than anyone). So, along with being a giant middle finger, RED MAN DEFIANT is also the great equalizer. Anywho, that’s my take… -Henry
as much as it irks you Miss A, I think you will find many agree with
Mr Henry as do I
I DO understand why it irks you.
however I like it when āourā side plays by the other sides fluctuating ārulesā.
for too long We the People have been mocked, put down and threatened by ākind tolerantā liberals.. today I view it as āequalityā- we can point out truth and liesā¦ jmho..
I know that many conservatives disagree with me… and I’m learning to be okay with that. It’s my opinion, and I stick by it. I’m not interested in being mocked and threatened, and I have no problem standing up to people. I just despise the cheap shots. And I didn’t like equity from the Left… why would I like or want it from the Right??
I agree with you, Allyson.
Trump’s liability is that he doesn’t mind the drama he stirs up; not caring what the optics are. That was the main reason for his loss in the 2020 election. Since he’s limited to this term; i believe he really doesn’t care about the optics.
I voted for him 3 times for what he accomplished, not his always being tactful.
Sure buddy, it was the mean tweets, not the millions of fraudulent ballots.
I agree about not worrying about the optics. He doesn’t have to. And I am coming to adore Vance more and more every day. But I still get irked.
Why does your AI Generated Image kind of look like Miguel G. from the old Gun Free Zone blog?
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As a general rule, I wish Trump would stay the F off social media. I am a parolee from the NY Metro area, and I fully understand what he is doing. In fact, pretty much everywhere in downstate NY, it is considered polite conversation. No one takes any offense about a bit if psyching out. Or, at least they used to let it flow off their back like water off a duck, but that was before woke happened..
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Anyway, as much as I LOVE the memeing and zingers and cutting down of the opponent, I also realize that pretty much everyone without my background will not get it. And, it is backfiring to some extent.
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One final thought.
“…because service members get backpay after government shutdowns anyhow. Heās just saying heāll do what he has to do anyhow. UGH.” I know that, you know that, but… the average person reading the headlines does not. And, the headlines will distort reality to push a narrative. I suspect there are a TON of people across the nation that think the military will be enslaved until the budget is passed.
“it is backfiring to some extent”
I can’t see how. If RED MAN DEFIANT takes the high road he’ll get exactly what he gets now takin’ the low road. Same for us: take the high road and we’ll get exactly the same crap we do now. Do we need to be *morally impeccable? Absolutely. We don’t, however, have to be ‘nice’ about it. -Henry
*don’t steal, lie, murder, rape, or enslave
“I suspect there are a TON of people across the nation that think the military will be enslaved until the budget is passed.”
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Yeah, and so the message should be, “It’s mandated they be paid, and we’re going to make certain it happens as it’s mandated.” Not “oh I’m going to do this special thing.” Because it’s not a special thing. Paying for the Women and Children’s Fund, THAT was a special thing. He didn’t have to do that, and it’s amazing and wonderful that he is doing it. We should be educating, not pandering. Otherwise, we’re just creating more braindead slaves.
Marketing and advertising have nothing to do with educating the public. Trump is marketing and advertising on this particular issue. And, it works. Advertising works, otherwise, you would not know what car is the “ultimate driving experience” or what “the real thing” is.
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The average Joe does not know the military will be paid regardless of Presidential action. Nor are they interested in learning it. And, Trump is playing right into it.
Right with you, Miss Allyson. I would greatly prefer him to stay off social media altogether, but if he must be on there, at least tone down the rhetoric.
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Honestly, it’s not the petty memes or the “mean tweets” that irk me. It’s when he threatens to do something the law or Constitution don’t allow him to do. Like when he recently said that non-essential federal workers wouldn’t get back-pay when the shutdown ends. Sorry, Mr. President, you yourself signed a law guaranteeing that they will, and there’s no Executive Order you can write that will “re-interpret” the language of that law so that they don’t. IOW, you don’t have the authority to threaten that — it’s just empty rhetoric that serves no purpose other than to inflame the other side — so please don’t.
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I don’t generally mind him trolling the Left on Twi/X; watching him beat them at their own game is amusing as hell in that respect, and it’s about time someone did. But extra-legal or -Constitutional actions are also the Left’s game, and one of Trump’s big draws at election time was that he wouldn’t do that. Lately he’s having a hard time staying in his lane and it’s driving me nuts.