A key to understanding Trump is to understand that he's not a liar. He’s a bullshitter.
In his book, “On Bullshit,” recently-deceased Princeton Philosophy prof Harry Frankfurt explains the difference:
“It is impossible for someone to lie unless he thinks he knows the truth. Producing bullshit requires no such conviction. A person who lies is thereby responding to the truth, and he is to that extent respectful of it. When an honest man speaks, he says only what he believes to be true; and for the liar, it is correspondingly indispensable that he considers his statements to be false.
“For the bullshitter, however, all these bets are off: he is neither on the side of the true nor on the side of the false. His eye is not on the facts at all, as the eyes of the honest man and of the liar are, except insofar as they may be pertinent to his interest in getting away with what he says. He does not care whether the things he says describe reality correctly. He just picks them out, or makes them up, to suit his purpose.”
Of course, Trump doesn't just spew bullshit. He weaponizes it. This may, in fact, turn out to be his most lasting legacy: to ratchet up bullshit to an entirely new level, and to make himself the standard by which all other bullshitters will forever be measured.
You know that scene in The Fly (original) when the scientist really fucked up? I'd really like to see that kind of shit happen to Sporkfoot. It would be hilarious to see her tiny head whining about incoherent jibber-jabber while connected to a tiny fly body. Hilarious.
And yet every week they still manage to get dumber. Watching hundreds of brains deteriorate in real time is depressing. These idiots are supposed to be role models, not Rolls-Royce models.
And they have the temerity to refer to Biden as senile. FFS.
So let me get this straight. FBI agents slow-walked the news story about Hunter Biden’s laptop and helped cover it up for 2 years, especially during the 2020 election season because they were told to by higher-ups, who included Trump appointees AG Bill Barr, Christopher Wray was head of the FBI, but Barr and Wray were both secretly working for the Deep State to scuttle Trump’s chances for re-election. Really? When Barr did everything for Trump from redact the Mueller report to clear the way for the Trump photo-op at Lafayette Square to sow doubt about the 2020 election whenever he was interviewed. But no, it's all Joe Biden and Merrick Garland’s fault, and somehow Hunter Biden’s porn pictures are very, very, very important. But, of course, Melania Trump’s soft-core porn photos, including the lesbian ones, are totally irrelevant, and she is the classiest First Lady we’ve ever had. Right?
More people should've vote for the email lady. Idiot orange mammoth always have plan,the bestest plan ever and he will reveal this plan in two weeks or right after election....
How about sicko and porn obsessed, MTG showing private photos of Hunter Biden to Congress for no reason AND emailing those photos to her constituents without a warning to minors.
She sent dick pics to CHILDREN! Both are against the law. She should be prosecuted for sending porn to minors and showing Revenge Porn in Washington DC.
Also, Hunter Biden’s lawyer sent a condemnation letter to the Ethics Committee and hinted that Hunter will sue MTG. Go Hunter!
I was looking at my daily Smirking Chimp newsletter awhile ago and wondering how you decide which of the myriad insanities to write about. So much material, so little time (for them to remain in power, I hope).
The irony is that Trump can go into total dementia and none of his supporters would know the difference. I remember when my father-in-law had dementia already at 70, my mother-in-law at around 80, and my aunt was like this at least at 82. One of the things is the five sentence conversation where they ask you 5 questions and by the time you have answered them they cycle back because they have forgotten what they said and you said. A pattern I noticed with the two women. My father-in-law was not that lucid earlier than that. So, this description of Trump talking is that a sign that he is losing his faculties. Unlike the two women I mentioned, it does not sound like Trump does a lot of reading. I wonder how much he even read the stolen documents. That may be why he had to keep them, because he was going to get around to reading them. Of course, given that his former father-in-law according to Prevail by Greg Olear, was involved in Czech Secret Police during Soviet Union, as well as Trumps US and Russian mob connections, we can wonder whether he was not just their pawn in getting the papers.
It's almost laughable that Jason Aldean is singing a song about how people who live in a small town would react to violent protests should they somehow come to a small town. I mean, give he was born and raised in a city of over 100K, and now lives in a city of over 700K. He's never lived in a small town.
Also, apparently most of the violent protest shots in the video are from protests in Germany and France (I believe). But yeah, it's a stupid song about stupid people.
Quick story as a resident of AZ and MAGA. I golf with a group of about 12-16 players all older than myself (71). One member told me at a party that he is unable to be friends with me or my wife anymore since we do not share his MAGA values or political viewpoints. When someone says that, you know they are in the RW information silo 24/7.
as amusing as this is to pick apart, it is still beyond sad that these people have been elected, are serving in our government and have as much influence as they do over the third of our neighbors, friends and family who take this bs as gospel. I don't know what, if anything, it will take to drag these cretins back to reality, but the continuation of our democracy depends on, at the minimum, retiring them from government, media and business.
this week in stupid: July 22 edition
Re Trump and bullshit.
A key to understanding Trump is to understand that he's not a liar. He’s a bullshitter.
In his book, “On Bullshit,” recently-deceased Princeton Philosophy prof Harry Frankfurt explains the difference:
“It is impossible for someone to lie unless he thinks he knows the truth. Producing bullshit requires no such conviction. A person who lies is thereby responding to the truth, and he is to that extent respectful of it. When an honest man speaks, he says only what he believes to be true; and for the liar, it is correspondingly indispensable that he considers his statements to be false.
“For the bullshitter, however, all these bets are off: he is neither on the side of the true nor on the side of the false. His eye is not on the facts at all, as the eyes of the honest man and of the liar are, except insofar as they may be pertinent to his interest in getting away with what he says. He does not care whether the things he says describe reality correctly. He just picks them out, or makes them up, to suit his purpose.”
Of course, Trump doesn't just spew bullshit. He weaponizes it. This may, in fact, turn out to be his most lasting legacy: to ratchet up bullshit to an entirely new level, and to make himself the standard by which all other bullshitters will forever be measured.
I don’t know how much more Stupid I can take.
You know that scene in The Fly (original) when the scientist really fucked up? I'd really like to see that kind of shit happen to Sporkfoot. It would be hilarious to see her tiny head whining about incoherent jibber-jabber while connected to a tiny fly body. Hilarious.
And yet every week they still manage to get dumber. Watching hundreds of brains deteriorate in real time is depressing. These idiots are supposed to be role models, not Rolls-Royce models.
And they have the temerity to refer to Biden as senile. FFS.
Meanwhile, dick pics on the floor of the House!
So let me get this straight. FBI agents slow-walked the news story about Hunter Biden’s laptop and helped cover it up for 2 years, especially during the 2020 election season because they were told to by higher-ups, who included Trump appointees AG Bill Barr, Christopher Wray was head of the FBI, but Barr and Wray were both secretly working for the Deep State to scuttle Trump’s chances for re-election. Really? When Barr did everything for Trump from redact the Mueller report to clear the way for the Trump photo-op at Lafayette Square to sow doubt about the 2020 election whenever he was interviewed. But no, it's all Joe Biden and Merrick Garland’s fault, and somehow Hunter Biden’s porn pictures are very, very, very important. But, of course, Melania Trump’s soft-core porn photos, including the lesbian ones, are totally irrelevant, and she is the classiest First Lady we’ve ever had. Right?
More people should've vote for the email lady. Idiot orange mammoth always have plan,the bestest plan ever and he will reveal this plan in two weeks or right after election....
How about sicko and porn obsessed, MTG showing private photos of Hunter Biden to Congress for no reason AND emailing those photos to her constituents without a warning to minors.
She sent dick pics to CHILDREN! Both are against the law. She should be prosecuted for sending porn to minors and showing Revenge Porn in Washington DC.
Also, Hunter Biden’s lawyer sent a condemnation letter to the Ethics Committee and hinted that Hunter will sue MTG. Go Hunter!
I was looking at my daily Smirking Chimp newsletter awhile ago and wondering how you decide which of the myriad insanities to write about. So much material, so little time (for them to remain in power, I hope).
The irony is that Trump can go into total dementia and none of his supporters would know the difference. I remember when my father-in-law had dementia already at 70, my mother-in-law at around 80, and my aunt was like this at least at 82. One of the things is the five sentence conversation where they ask you 5 questions and by the time you have answered them they cycle back because they have forgotten what they said and you said. A pattern I noticed with the two women. My father-in-law was not that lucid earlier than that. So, this description of Trump talking is that a sign that he is losing his faculties. Unlike the two women I mentioned, it does not sound like Trump does a lot of reading. I wonder how much he even read the stolen documents. That may be why he had to keep them, because he was going to get around to reading them. Of course, given that his former father-in-law according to Prevail by Greg Olear, was involved in Czech Secret Police during Soviet Union, as well as Trumps US and Russian mob connections, we can wonder whether he was not just their pawn in getting the papers.
https://gregolear.substack.com/p/tinker-tailor-mobster-trump
All possibilities are horrible given that he appears to be the Republican frontrunner.
RE: the country song.
It's almost laughable that Jason Aldean is singing a song about how people who live in a small town would react to violent protests should they somehow come to a small town. I mean, give he was born and raised in a city of over 100K, and now lives in a city of over 700K. He's never lived in a small town.
Also, apparently most of the violent protest shots in the video are from protests in Germany and France (I believe). But yeah, it's a stupid song about stupid people.
Quick story as a resident of AZ and MAGA. I golf with a group of about 12-16 players all older than myself (71). One member told me at a party that he is unable to be friends with me or my wife anymore since we do not share his MAGA values or political viewpoints. When someone says that, you know they are in the RW information silo 24/7.
Aldean was on stage in Las Vegas when a gunman killed 59 people right in front of him. But he's against any type of gun control.
as amusing as this is to pick apart, it is still beyond sad that these people have been elected, are serving in our government and have as much influence as they do over the third of our neighbors, friends and family who take this bs as gospel. I don't know what, if anything, it will take to drag these cretins back to reality, but the continuation of our democracy depends on, at the minimum, retiring them from government, media and business.
And MTG has an ethics complaint now
You probably won’t have to wait long for the “ dipshit wingnut...”!
You have earned every penny I committed to this substack & then some. Keep our brains unfogged!