The American Dark Age (2016-2020) An archived history of the worst President ever

[rowe33]

It definitely looks like a fake, designed to get some publicity and book sales. But at what cost? There’s enough fake shit going around.

[ShivaX]

It definitely looks like a fake, designed to get some publicity and book sales. But at what cost? There’s enough fake shit going around.

True that. I blame Steve Blum.
Damn it, Spike.

[ravenight]

Note: Trump’s wall of text there has only two “sentences”.

There’s really more like 14 sentences, the transcriber just didn’t really know what to do with Trump’s stream-of-consciousness cadence and self-interrupting. I think reporters are intentionally not trying to clean it up at all so that he can’t say they changed his words, but ordinarily they might do things like put the implied end of a phrase in square brackets, use a hyphen to show that he cut himself off mid-phrase, etc.

Well, I don’t like heroes. I don’t like the concept of heroes – the concept of heroes is never great, but certainly you can respect certain people and certainly there are certain people… But I’ve learnt a lot from my father. My father was a builder in Brooklyn and Queens. He did houses and housing and I learnt a lot about negotiation from my father. Although I also think negotiation is a natural trait; I don’t think you can [learn it] – you either have it or you don’t. You get better at it, but basically the people that I know who are great negotiators or great salesmen or great politicians, it’s very natural, very natural. I got a letter from somebody (they’re [a] congressman), they said "What you’ve done is amazing because you were never a politician and you beat all the politicians. He said they added it up: when I was three months into the campaign, they added it up [and] I had three months of experience and the 17 guys I was running against, the Republicans, had 236 years (ya know, when you add 20 years and 30 years). So I was three months, they were 236 years. So it’s sort of a funny article. But I believe it’s like hitting a baseball or being a good golfer. Natural ability, to me, is much more important to me than experience – and experience is a great thing – I think it’s a great thing. But I learnt a lot from my father in terms of leadership.

It’s still repetitive, a bit confusing, and a very long walk from the actual question with a sudden jerk back to the answer of, basically, “I don’t believe in heroes, but if I have to pick one, my dad is my hero.” It does have sentences and complete thoughts, they are just strung end-to-end in a way that wanders aimlessly instead of trying to support a logical response to the question.

[Dave_Perkins]

His answer was:

1. Uh, my dad.
2. I’m my own hero.

[sillhouette]

more like “2. My dad said I would be awesome, but I am way better than that.”

[ShivaX]

Pretty much. Everyone else is a sucker compared to him and his dad, the truest heroes the world has ever known.

[Dave_Perkins]

If he could have bypassed his dad in his answer, without seeming like a complete pile of shit, he would have.

[Daagar]

It’s still repetitive, a bit confusing, and a very long walk from the actual question with a sudden jerk back to the answer of, basically, “I don’t believe in heroes, but if I have to pick one, my dad is my hero.” It does have sentences and complete thoughts, they are just strung end-to-end in a way that wanders aimlessly instead of trying to support a logical response to the question.

I don’t think cleaning it up like that is truthful either though. His verbal ability sounds like the way the reporter wrote it, not the way you wrote it which is incredibly generous. He’s a fucking moron and deserves to be shown in that light whenever possible.

[ravenight]

His verbal ability sounds like the way the reporter wrote it, not the way you wrote it

I disagree - Trump sounds much more coherent in video, because his facial expressions and gestures fill in the gaps in his words and highlight the punctuation, even though he doesn’t audibly pause the way others might at the end of a sentence. Transcribing his speeches without punctuation just because you think he’s an idiot isn’t more truthful, it’s just cutting away the stuff that doesn’t support your view. If he’s a moron, it’s because of the ideas he’s spouting, not the way he’s speaking, and making fun of the way he’s speaking just feeds the narrative of media bias.

Let’s put it this way - if every article about Trump’s speeches and other statements from now on edited the content to remove redundant phrasing, fill gaps, and clarify context and punctuation, do you really think the end result would be that everyone thought he was doing great things? I think it’s more likely that people would actually begin to understand what he’s proposing, instead of being taken in by the winding path to say it, and more people would think he was an idiot with a terrible grasp of every aspect of policy.

[Dave_Perkins]

I think that’s a rather good point.

[Timex]

Trump sounds much more coherent in video, because his facial expressions and gestures fill in the gaps in his words and highlight the punctuation, even though he doesn’t audibly pause the way others might at the end of a sentence.

Not in any video I’ve seen.

Trump just babbles. I mean, if you don’t listen to the meaning of what he says, and aren’t interested in finding any, then it may SOUND OK?

Like, he says a lot of words, and makes gestures, and lots of his words are superlatives. It’s almost like grammar has been abandoned, and he just groups words together to create meaning on a primitive animal level.

He’ll say things and people he likes, and throw in superlatives. He’ll mention things he doesn’t like, and throw in words like loser and sad.

He doesn’t really make meaningful statements about anything though. It just creates some kind of raw, emotional content on a subconscious level, if you are kind of dumb. It basically tries to get you to associate the descriptors and nouns with each other purely based on proximity and repetition, rather than grammatical meaning.

[ravenight]

. It basically tries to get you to associate the descriptors and nouns with each other purely based on proximity and repetition, rather than grammatical meaning.

I think that’s an accurate description of his speaking style. He repeats certain concepts he wants people to think about, and the superlatives and other concepts he wants people to associate them with. But while he comes off as rambling and often scattershot, and it’s difficult to remember any policy detail at the end, he does not sound like he’s speaking in run-on or incomplete sentences. He doesn’t leave you with coherent, logical arguments to assess, that’s definitely true, but he doesn’t leave you wondering if he speaks English as a native language.

[Avtar]

Obligatory.

[Timex]

he does not sound like he’s speaking in run-on or incomplete sentences. He doesn’t leave you with coherent, logical arguments to assess, that’s definitely true, but he doesn’t leave you wondering if he

Every time I’ve heard him speak, I’ve been struck by exactly that. He did not speak in complete sentences. He doesn’t finish thoughts. He just babbles.

Maybe he seems coherent to you, but not to me.

To me, he sounds like an extremely simpleminded, shallow man, who lacks the mental faculties necessary to put together complex thoughts beyond spurts of emotional babble.

I think maybe you are making a mistake here that I think Trump has benefited from immensely. You are attributing qualities to him which he does not demonstrate, simply because you expect them to be there. You expect him to be speaking in an intelligible manner, because that’s what sane adults do.

But this is essentially the same as anthropomorphizing our pets. We imagine that they have similar cognitive qualities to us, because that’s what most humans are wired to do. It helps us function. But it’s not true with Trump.

[Dan_Theman]

But this is essentially the same as anthropomorphizing our pets.

I really like this analogy, and I think it explains (in part) why someone with his speaking pattern can be effective in swaying minds without using anything that actually resembles logic.

[HumanTon]

I think maybe you are making a mistake here that I think Trump has benefited from immensely. You are attributing qualities to him which he does not demonstrate, simply because you expect them to be there. You expect him to be speaking in an intelligible manner, because that’s what sane adults do.

But this is essentially the same as anthropomorphizing our pets. We imagine that they have similar cognitive qualities to us, because that’s what most humans are wired to do. It helps us function. But it’s not true with Trump.

This is very insightful and true. And really, it’s the secret to his success. How many people have said, “What Trump really means, is…” and been totally wrong, because they were assuming he had attributes it turns out he simply lacks?

[ShivaX]

The Late Show (colbertlateshow)

Look, I get weekends off, because I’m easily confused.

Dear enemies of America, please reserve your crises to 9-5 M-F EST. Thank you.

[Djscman]

I heard that former President George H.W. Bush was hospitalized for ill health recently. Now I wouldn’t wish for any president to die, and indeed Bush’s people are saying they expect he’ll be out of the hospital soon. But if Bush 41 had to pass away from natural causes in the near future, it would be appropriate to pass away just before Trump’s inauguration. A nation in mourning, flags at half-staff…Trump would be furious at someone upstaging his big celebration.

[Timex]

[JFrazer]

We should also move the 4th of July to a Saturday so that we can blow stuff up all day and not have to work with a hangover the next day!

Wait…