Napoleonic & ECW wargaming, with a load of old Hooptedoodle on this & that


Friday 6 November 2020

Hooptedoodle #378 - No Fun at All, in the End

Yes, yes - I realise it isn't officially finished yet, since we are likely to have to live through the expected false-flag legal challenges, but the US Election is shaping up.

It would be unworthy to enjoy someone else's misfortune - except in very special cases, of course. Around midnight last night I heard that Mr Trump was about to make an unscheduled announcement from the White House.

We don't get to live through too many historic moments, so I thought I should have a listen on the radio. It's not my country, not my election, but the last 4 years have stretched patience and belief more than a little, even from this range. In truth, all I want is for the man to go away, and maybe I shall be spared his whining voice in future. That would do, but I also wanted to see if he could make a good end - perhaps, for once, he might present himself with unaccustomed dignity and maybe a little humility - it is the accepted way to do these things, I understand.

Fat chance. He spoiled the moment completely for me - I was profoundly embarrassed for him, and for his nation and its traditions. 15 minutes of deranged nonsense - incoherent, wild, paranoid, unstructured, fantastic - left me very uncomfortable indeed.

I assume he remains the commander in chief of the American armed services? Goodness me. If an ageing employee of yours exhibited behaviour like that, my guess is that he would be resting at home somewhere shortly afterwards. Unhinged.

None of my business, ultimately, but is that really the best he's got? Disappointing. That was no fun at all. 


 ***** Late Edit *****

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33 comments:

  1. I remember the original Robocop movie where the outgoing mayor takes hostages and refuses to leave his old job.

    How I scoffed at the far fetch-edness of it all!

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    1. You don't suppose DT developed his master plan while watching Robocop, do you? Scary.

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  2. It's like watching a train wreck in slow motion - is anybody keeping an eye on Harpers Ferry ?

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    1. It bothers me a lot that DT's strange speech sounded like some kind of drunken declaration of war. A rejection of American laws and values, and a call to start something else. There are heavily armed guys wandering about outside the Arizona ballot-processing place tonight. When will someone start shooting?

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  3. Journalists and social commentators can parse it all out and say it much, much better than I am able, but the entire episode has been a colossal embarrassment since before he actually won the election in '16. The entire family is a seedy, sordid, and disreputable blot on the global landscape. A den or slimy, reptilian creatures the likes of which we have not seen on such a grand scale before. I fear they will not disappear beneath a handy rock any time soon and will continue to infect US and global politics for quite a few more years to come. The saddest thing in all of this is that, apparently, even more people voted for Mr. T. this time around than four years ago, which, as several journalists have pointed out already, really does not say very much for a substantial part of the population. It might all be very funny if it weren't so utterly terrifying.

    Best Regards,

    Stokes

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    1. If someone wrote this as a sitcom, it would be rejected as too ridiculous. I'd gradually started assuming that it must be me, that my instinct that this guy was too appalling to be allowed to exist by the laws of Nature must be wrong - just my own hang-up. I have tried to put my finger on exactly what it is that I dislike, and I just don't have the words. Relatively recently, I read a review of Trump's performance (spasm?) at the first Presidental Debate, and it was suggested that someone on his team might have advised him that he might start trying not to come across as such a horrible person - a faint bell chimed - maybe it wasn't just me? People have also started bandying the dreaded Fascist word as well now, which is generally held to be a cheap and easy shot, but it doesn't seem so far out. It would be deeply satisfying if the Supreme Court were to tell him to piss off and not waste their time, and kick his inane attempts at litigation into the weeds.

      I really hope that he just goes very quiet - maybe if he goes to prison, or gets bumped off by some Nicky Santoro clone for non-payment of debts - maybe that would seem fitting. I would rather he just disappeared quietly and without a fuss, then I don't have to think about him any more. There are a lot of people who might disappear with him to good effect - from a British point of view, I'd be happy if his little sidekick Salacious B Farage went too.

      It's going to take a long time before the Republicans can get themselves back up to speed, I would think - I see DT's weird sons are working at allocating blame and splitting people up - just what has it got to do with them, anyway?

      I'm looking forward to a time after lockdown ends, when I can travel on a train, and spend an hour or so in a station bookshop, trying to find a paperback book that isn't written by a former colleague of DT.

      It all seems very unreal - I'm still expecting this to go wrong, in some way I haven't thought of - you don't think he can pull this off, do you? Houdini lives again? Surely not...

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    1. Indeed - my belief has been seriously beggared for a while now!

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  5. I think I exhibited a very British reaction to Mr T's ..er..speech. It was a sort of collateral embarrassment for the poor inhabitants of the USA for having such a representative. Had it been on telly, I feel I'd have had to watch it through my fingers. I had to have a really strong cup of tea to get over it.

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    1. Towards the end, a voice should have shouted, "CUT!! - Donald, you're rambling - let's try that again - this time read the script, don't mention Detroit more than once, and try not to come across as though you've had a stroke..."

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    2. Apparently, some US TV networks did cut the broadcast short or showed it with the sound off - perhaps a trick they should have learned earlier.

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  6. Last night I was wondering whether the man has any sense of shame at all. It is quite an achievement - in something approaching two and a half centuries, the USA has never before produced such a complete disgrace of a president. I wonder if that bothers him, or if he would even understand? I'm not sure that sociopaths understand these things.

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  7. I did read that if he lost the election he would come and live in Scotland so personally I'm still hanging on to the hope he will win! One thing is for sure - some old white bloke will be president!

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    1. He'll probably buy Perthshire to make it into a theme park - well, in fact I doubt if anyone will lend him the cash - I certainly won't. Maybe he'll be reduced to getting his head kicked in in a Glasgow pub every weekend?

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  8. While I am relieved that the orange child King looks set to be ousted, the fact that 70 million Americans have despite everything voted for him is very depressing. I do fear for the future of the US and can't help but wonder when the next Trump will be coming along. Sorry to be a downer!

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    1. Downer. I'm still hoping for the odd bright moment in his personal downfall.

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  9. I think as well as feeling bemused by the fact 70 million Americans voted for him, I'm worried by the number of people here who believe similar charlatans. The same media who are criticising Trump and his ilk are the ones who stoked the fire in the first place.

    Still. It's nice to be able to take some pleasure from the situation (You gotta larf antya). https://m.facebook.com/thedailyshow/videos/277772113471164/?refsrc=https%3A%2F%2Fm.facebook.com%2F7976226799%2Fposts%2F10159013925156800%2F&_rdr

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    1. I think as a role model for a host of other petty-Mussolinis he is bad news, so his demise will remove him from public view, and he has made such a fool of himself on the way out that he doesn't look like a martyr.

      There was a period some months ago when members of the public where invited to speak to some commission or other (on TV, since I saw it, though I can't even remember the context now), and a few of them started speaking about making "citizens' arrests" and locking up and executing the officials - where the hell did that come from? (The link was excellent, btw)

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  10. Main problem - he has 3 more months in office to cause damage and go on a vengeance spree. Crazy...

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  11. It looks all but certain now that this will be his only term, thank God. I too find it depressing that it was anywhere near this close. I could only watch a few minutes of the speech... nothing new there, I cannot stand the sight of him nor the sound of his voice, but the endless, blatant falsehoods were appalling. Several TV networks literally cut him off, it became so egregious.

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    1. It feels a bit nervy at present, but I hope this will all resolve itself quickly. The idea of a TV network blanking out the head of state is remarkable, when you think about it. Can you imagine the North Korean TV channel switching off their president for telling lies? As a finger-in-the-wind indicator for how fed up the world at large has become with this expensive and tragic charade, this must be right up there. I'm sorry, Mr President, but that's quite enough of that crap - thank you and good night.

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  12. I have an email from Prof De Vries, who wishes to draw attention to the waste of time and cost resulting from inefficiencies in the US electoral system. All these bits of paper and all those staff working all night in heated offices, not to mention the media people and the millions of TV viewers waiting around - all that was required was for the POTUS to tell us, first thing in the morning on 3rd Nov, who had won. How obvious is that?

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  13. I'm just glad that the reign of Mad King Donald is over.

    Those Republicans who aided and abetted his rule need to take a long, hard look in the mirror and ask themselves if that is really the sort of person they want to be.

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    1. Hi Martin - looking at various interviews with DT supporters - especially those who are upset at the moment - I am astounded how many of them are elderly guys with beards, wearing Confederate emblems. A lot of the rest of them are very overweight middle-aged guys who won't live long enough to become the Old Beardies. Whatever, the Civil War is alive and well. I was also interested in the guys who turned up to threaten the vote-counting centre in Phoenix, carrying guns. I realise that carrying guns in public is (for some strange reason) legal in Arizona, and assuming a threatening posture might be regarded as manly in such a culture, but why would anyone wish to exhibit himself as a dickhead on national TV?

      I am left with the impression that there have always been subclasses in some areas of the USA, who wish to refight their great-granddaddy's lost causes, and Trump merely knew how to exploit that for his own ends. The guy with the automatic weapon in Phoenix, whatever he thinks, has just been exploited in a very cynical way - just a moron ready to fight for something he doesn't understand. And Steve Bannon wants heads on poles? What a silly little man - how's he getting on spending the Mexican Wall money, by the way?

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  14. I read your initial post with interest as I thought you might provoke some pro Trump feed back from American readers - after all, I have no reason to doubt roughly 30-40% of US wargamers voted for Trump, given the split was something like 48%-52% nationally. Here in NZ too, there are an astounding number of people who think he is a great guy who "tells it like it is" etc - and think Joe Biden is a dirty Socialist - I don't think there is any such thing as an American socialist, the so called left over there are just slightly less rabid capitalists - but logic doesn't come into it with Trump supporters! Hopefully he just goes relatively quietly although secretly, I think it would be fun if he had to be dragged out of the Whitehouse in handcuffs by the Secret Service come late January!

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    1. Thanks for this - yes, there are some potentially gratifying scenarios coming up. I'm glad that things have quietened down here in the UK - the election is moving further down the list of items on the news. To remind myself of the US's historical background to this, and the received view of socialists, I had a quick read about Senator McCarthy (another bundle of unbridled joy and a boon to mankind) and a couple of others. I was waiting to see if Tango01 (aka Armintwat) saw fit to transplant my post into TMP, because I would guess there are a lot of gun enthusiasts and people still living the ACW in that community, but no go.

      In my heart there is a faint tremor - I keep thinking to myself that, to make all this fuss, Trump must have some very bigly evidence in his pocket...? Maybe not - no doubt we'll see. As things stand, and by any behavioural standards I can comprehend, Trump's most likely end game (barring a cancellation of the entire election, which would surely have the militia out on the streets) is to just go and sulk. If he doesn't turn up at the handover then he will just get another note in the history books as an accident which must never happen again - mothers for generations will use him for their kids as an example of how not to behave. I care little for the protocols of that event, though I am nervous about the amount of spite he may be able to bring to bear in the next 10 weeks (or whatever).

      My mate Matthew in California reckons that one reason for the terrible tantrum is that Il Dumpo had fixed it so that postal ballots would be delayed and lost in large amounts (which is why Republicans were warned not to use postal ballots), and it turns out this failed dismally - someone switched the trick deck of cards back again.

      Unspeakable. He has backed himself into a corner - if his legal effort comes to nothing, he will be mostly remembered as an intemperate fool. He has left himself no way of saving any dignity, as far as I can see.

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  15. I would just like to offer up my apologies on behalf of American public for the last four years. January can not come soon enough....

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    1. David - I am delighted it seems to be over, though Trump is working hard to generate splits in society, using prejudice and ignorance as a fertile seed-bed. God bless you all - there's a long way to go, I think, but at least you have a starting place now.

      Mind you, by January Trump will have sold off Alaska for drilling, and will have set up the greatest ever GoFundMe venture to get his worshippers to pay off his personal debts. Heaven forbid, but he might just meet his end on the streets - as my friend Matthew says, "like Al Capone without the brains".

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    2. His outgoing acts, supported one must say by a cowed GOP, is extraordinarily damaging to the incoming administration and to our Democratic process in general. If nothing else he has pointed out some weaknesses in our system. Whether anything can be done to address them largely depends on two senate races in Georgia.

      I certainly hope he does not meet his end on the streets, but I do believe the American people need to see his relentless graft and tax evasion appropriately punished. The election commission and the New York state tax fraud cases may be able to address this, but it is kind of pointless with Trumpers unknowingly funding his personal bailout.

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    3. Prison would be good though, eh?

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    4. ...apart from anything else, wouldn't a federal conviction bar him from standing in 2024...?

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  16. I am hoping the feds stay out of it and focus on moving forward. There may be fertile enough ground for consequences without the involvement of the federal arm of government.

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