State of the Discussion

The posts in play...

Moral insanity
(131)
+
Feeling Philoctetes
(12)
+
Carney’s speech
(23)
+
Rememory
(30)
+
 

The comments...

bc
+ lj: my bad. I meant to put a divider there. Still, I thought (and think) the context is obvious and I wasn't being disrespectful. [. . .]
hairshirthedonist

Accept the beating gracefully or it's your fault.

russell
+ That is asking Trump to deploy the military for immigration enforcement without actually asking him, IMO. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. And we [. . .]
Liberal Japonicus

bc,

Not really cool combining two people's comments (and removing the context) to make your point.

bc
+ So it’s a chance (whether large or tiny) of accomplishing something vs no chance at all. Easy choice. But do it anyway. Do whatever is available. That [. . .]
GftNC

Fascinating, lj, thanks.

GftNC
+ This (the reaction of the Minneapolis public) is rather inspiring. You could say it's an example of Moral Sanity: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/2026/01/minneapolis-uprising/685755/?gift=cx0iluuWx4Cg7JjlT8ugCZ3XpunvY7eUEOPAgaybJ3M&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share From where I stood, a few [. . .]
Liberal Japonicus
+ If you haven't, check out Emily Wilson's translation of the Odyssey and the Iliad. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/dec/08/the-odyssey-translated-emily-wilson-review A fun quote from the review that gets us to questions of [. . .]
GftNC
+ My copy of The Cure at Troy has just arrived. I'm looking forward. But it's weird how the story of Troy seems to be following [. . .]
Liberal Japonicus
+ Does anyone in Greek myths have a noble character as we would define it? Brad DeLong, long ago, noted that he'd rather have Odysseus as [. . .]
russell
+ do. whatever. is. available. the (D)'s are minority but they are not utterly without any power. use what you have. the sternly worded letters are not [. . .]
cleek
+ "There's An Emergency!" is getting a lot of work done for TrumpCo right now. if the funding is cut, Trump will declare an emergency of [. . .]
wjca
+ To expand on what russell said: absolutely slash DHS (or, at minimum, ICE) funding. The administration may invent some way around that, and spend [. . .]
russell
+ What hairshirt said. If the (D)'s actually manage to turn off the DHS money, Trump et al will (a) bit h and moan and write a [. . .]
Michael Cain
+ Perhaps the Federalist Society's vetting is less robust that they thought....Also the Sinister Six's use of the shadow docket instead of actual cases. Those [. . .]
nous
+ I'm not sure that I'd say that Philoctetes, Hercules, or Odysseus were great and noble of character. All three were men of great ability, sure, [. . .]
wjca
+ I can't see anyone in this administration as Philoctetes, Hercules, or Odysseus. All of whom had, besides their tragic flaws, great and noble characteristics. [. . .]
hairshirthedonist
+ I think the answer to your question, Hartmut, is "nothing." Or tRump's own mind, which is more or less the same answer if you get [. . .]
Michael Cain
+ Even if the DHS budget gets slashed, what would stop His Orangeness to just transfer funds from elsewhere*? Iirc he already does so in other [. . .]
Hartmut
+ The play dates from the Peloponnesian war (after the catastrophe of the Sicilian expedition that had decimated the Athenian stock of young men) and a [. . .]
Hartmut
+ Even if the DHS budget gets slashed, what would stop His Orangeness to just transfer funds from elsewhere*? Iirc he already does so in other [. . .]
russell
+ yikes, the Brooks debate again! FWIW and for the record, my issue with Brooks is probably much simpler than y'alls. He seems to live in, and speak [. . .]
GftNC
+ Well, you certainly get no argument from me on the role played by the Heritage Foundation, the Federalist Society or the SCOTUS. And the roots [. . .]
JanieM
+ Hey nous, I sent you an email a couple of days ago ... if you didn't get it, will you email me so I can [. . .]
nous
+ ...so I guess this adds a second formula to the one that Snarki outlines. Sometimes it is the "zoom out until the particulars blur" tactic. [. . .]
nous
+ GftNC - However, on the subject that you and Snarki raise of his having an “unerring ability to land on a GOP friendly position”, it seems [. . .]
GftNC
+ lj, I went back and read that Brooks piece more carefully. I must say, when he writes: And no, I don’t think America is headed [. . .]
Liberal Japonicus
+ It’s interesting, but I realise I don’t really have favourites. I read the arguments of the various commentators, and sometimes I think they’re worthwhile, and [. . .]
Snarki, child of Loki
+ Don't recall who originally wrote it, but "Bobo" Brooks has an MO: Yak about some social 'problem'. Zoom out to 40,000 feet to 'analyze' it. Zoom in to [. . .]
nous
+ wj's response to Brooks's ritual performance of balance calls to mind one of the books I read early in my Ph.D. studies when I was [. . .]
wjca
+ And no, I don’t think America is headed toward anything like a Rome-style collapse. Our institutions are too strong, and our people, deep down, still [. . .]
Pro Bono

What GftNC said.

GftNC
+ i’ve been thinking the same thing. if you disregard the direction of the things he’s done and only focus on their magnitude, it’s hard to say he hasn’t [. . .]
cleek
+ >I remember him saying that Trump was ‘the most consequential president in our lifetime’ i've been thinking the same thing. if you disregard the direction of the [. . .]
GftNC
+ I understand that one can’t blame the original Tacitus for the sins of the nouveau Tacman, but I have to wonder about the connection in [. . .]
Liberal Japonicus
+ Thanks for the David Brooks link, though let me rag on it a bit. I wish he had spent a little less time the previous [. . .]
`wonkie
+ Sir Rod Stewart released a video statement about Trump's diss of UK soldiers. That Tacticus quote is right on the money-which is why the actions in [. . .]
GftNC
+ OK, on lj's formulation that this thread is about American reaction (as opposed to foreign reaction) to Trump, this is David Brooks in today's NYT. [. . .]
Liberal Japonicus
+ I suppose that it all bleeds together, but my thought was that this thread might focus on foreign reaction to Trump, while the other post [. . .]
wjca
+ I keep thinking of it as Trump's Bored of Peace. Because he certainly does seem to be. Who needs peace, as long as [. . .]
GftNC

So, utterly unsure where to post this but - I haven't been that keen on the Guardian's newish cartoonist, but this did seem perfect:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2026/jan/22/ben-jennings-donald-trump-board-of-peace-cartoon

GftNC
+ Sorry, I didn't know we were discussing the very same thing on two threads, this and the Moral Insanity one! I must say, I [. . .]
GftNC
+ Yup. Four educational deferments, and eventually one bone spur exemption. But it's OK, we do know that his own personal Vietnam was risking [. . .]
hairshirthedonist
+ I’m sure you can imagine, even if you haven’t seen them, the responses ricocheting around the world from former servicemen to Trump’s and Hegseth’s [. . .]
`wonkie
+ That poem is exactly right. In terms of civic involvement, sociopathy is the norm with R base voters, combined with self-aggrandizement and self-pity. I [. . .]
GftNC
+ Meanwhile, talking of Moral Insanity, this is an extract from The Critic. I don't agree with the entirety of the piece (fairly reflexively anti-Europe), [. . .]
cleek
+ >What kind of people are they trying to appeal to? the same kind of insecure oafs who think mocking people who aren't just like them improves [. . .]
Hartmut
+ "Ve haf vays of making you (look like) cry(ing)" Our agentz are sooo tuff, that ve can make the worst of the worst (certainly all members [. . .]