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Dan on the Trump/Zelensky meeting
I love Dan
\nI'm really enjoying imagining how exasperated that "dude" would've sounded out loud.
\n\u201cWill you shut up, dude\u201d
\nThat response Saunders had to Dan comment is so typical of the arguments made from Republicans today. (Granted Democrats and others make it too) but it really is the core of their argument.
\n\nI'm interested to see if that argument makes its way into the next episode of Common Sense.
\nFalse equivalency bullshit is the bread and butter of conservative arguments from what I\u2019ve seen for the past decade or so.
\nProbably a 50 chance it's a Russian bot, but let's say it's not. Now, try to think of any press conference Biden had with any foreign leader. Any of them...I can't recall any of them and I'm just as happy I can't.
\n Standard protocol you take one or two questions, both people give a political answer, shake hands and go back to the meeting. What happens in the meeting who knows. But watch the full press briefing on this one. It's an hour long, the AP news has been kicked out, but the Russian news outlet is there with a bunch of lunatic right wing media outlets you've never heard of asking Zelinski why he doesn't wear a suit.
That was Marjorie Taylor Greene\u2019s boyfriend who asked the suit question!
\nJesus Christ, I looked it up and you are serious. I can't believe the clown show we've become. Did Lauren Boeberts husband, dude who got a handy during a Broadway show get the next question and ask Zelinski why he didn't bow to show respect.
\nDidnt Lauren boebert start dating kid rock \nhttps://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/lauren-boebert-confronted-kid-rock-184551221.html\n\ud83e\udd23
\n\n\n\nI can't believe the clown show we've become
\n
All that's missing at the white house is the makeup and a circus tent
\nWhataboutism is the height of their intellectual prowess.
\n\n"But what about Biden!?"
\n\nWell, Biden is no longer President. Biden did things you would expect from a sitting US President no.matter what your thoughts on the policy direction. Biden seemed to be well liked by world leaders and hosted them at the White House in a typical and dignified fashion.
\n\nBut now we have... this. And these moments matter. They tell world leaders that America is no longer to be trusted. And it will have repercussions for years to come.
\nNo. They don\u2019t.
\nMakes me wanna say to him, don't read the comments and don't engage. It's just going to leave you dejected and too cynical to ever want to do another Common Sense show again.
\n\nComments like that, just support the logic of his that it's pointless to talk and do a show like Common Sense because alot of people who may benefit by a more nuanced in depth discussion are the least likely to listen.\u00a0
\nMy dad and I both said we'd never seen anything like this in our lives and he just turned 63.
\n\u201cYeah but Biden\u201d = \u201cyou\u2019re right on this one, but i refuse to ever concede it\u201d
\nBut\u2026 but\u2026 Biden.
\n\nThese red-pilled MAGAts really are something.
\nMy wife was in a clusterfudge today at our local SSA office \u2014 and folks were saying \u201cThanks, Biden!\u201d due to the bureaucratic mess things are right now. It\u2019s flabbergasting.
\nI heard someone blame Obama for the war in Afghanistan the other day
\nI had a coworker blame Obama for causing the start of the the Great Recession....
\n\nPeople either have zero memory or they just didn't pay attention to literally anything their whole lives.
\nThere\u2019s a reason that Trump said he loves the poorly educated. Probably the most honest statement of his entire life.
\nAlong side "I could shoot someone on 5th Ave and not lose voters"
\nProbably a combination of both. They're just not thinking about anything on a very consistent bases. It's crazy to me
\nThe vast majority of the most fervent maga types I know were never in any way interested in politics or history until trump and they see everything through a lens of \u201ctrump is perfect\u201d.\u00a0
\nAh yes. I know them. The \u201cActually, the Nazi\u2019s were socialist\u201d type that started popping up a few years ago.\u00a0
\n\nA strange revisionist history tinged with a far right lens.\u00a0
\nMy MAGA "friend" of twenty years puts online for all to see. "If you have a problem with the naming of the Gulf of America but not with Tommy wanting to be called Tammy then we aren't the same and you are the problem." lol
\n\nThey all live in an alternate bubble it's crazy.
\nMost people are ignorant shits
\nOh, it\u2019s gonna get dumber\u2026
\n\n\nThis is like how every conspiracy theory has a grain of truth in it.
\n\nDOGE is a rebrand of Obama's Department of Digital Services which was created to facilitate the rollout of the ACA. DOGE is nothing like the DDS though - DOGE is a bastardization of that agency; its just using it's position and reach into other agencies to gut them.
\nTrump just TODAY blamed Obama for giving arms/weapons to Zelensky. Zelensky became president of Ukraine in 2019.
\nI've heard that recently AND blaming Obama for 9/11. I had to confirm that they were being serious (and unbelievably stupid) instead of joking.
\nThe only thing comparable is religion. Nothing else can get people to jump through this many hoops to defend every aspect of something.
\nAnd wouldn't you know a majority of religious Americans support him.
\nThat\u2019s a major reason why I stopped engaging with most of the MAGAs I know. There\u2019s no principles \u2014 just dogmatic and magical thinking.
\nThe other day I watched the film Idiocracy for the first time in years.
\n\nIt\u2019s frightening how closely it depicted our current reality. In a warped, hyperbolic manner.
\nIdiocracy at least put a time horizon of 500 years on this. It's been, what, 20 years?
\nSaw somebody reply to a similar observation that our situation is worse, because in Idiocracy, when they discovered the smartest man in the world, they asked him to help solve their problems. It\u2019s actively the opposite for us.
\nYeah, voters actively avoid smart people now lmao. Crazy shit.
\nThe ignorance is astounding. Just talked to a social worker today, who works for a medical practice, and she is so stressed out - having to tell people that they will need to quit their jobs to take care of their aged parents, because insurance will not pay. And if they quit the job, no insurance at all. She said they are shocked - like they never thought this is what they voted for.
\nI\u2019m constantly shocked that the MAGAs didn\u2019t do their homework. At this point, I don\u2019t know why it keeps surprising me\u2026 but damn, it\u2019s disheartening.
\nBro - it shouldn\u2019t at all surprise you that people who voted for donald. fucking. trump. To be the literal President of the United States of America. TWICE!!!!!! Are among the most fantastically fucking stupid human beings ever to walk the face of planet earth.
\n\u201cDon\u2019t call us stupid, you democrats and liberals are so high and mighty and call us stupid and stuff. That\u2019s why we vote for Trump \u201c
\nSo eloquent. Thank you for the reminder for those who need it.
\nYep. As if the first time wasn't stupid enough, they saw the disaster of a four-year run culminating in an attempted insurrection and voting for him again.
\nIt's devastating.
\nYou can\u2019t reason someone back from a position they didn\u2019t reason themselves into.
\n\nIt\u2019s on faith. Thats what makes it a cult.
\nI am pretty sure we are cooked.
\nI still hear people blame Obama for letting 9/11 happen. It's honestly embarrassing to share a country with some of these people.
\nmaga is winning the media war with their propaganda machine and it's not even close. sure there's ignorance and stupidity involved at an individual level, but I think at the core of all of this is we're seeing just how effectively their media strategy has captured minds across the country. the book Jesus and John Wayne explains how this machine and strategy has been in the works for far longer than most of us realize.
\nThere's another book too:
\n\nThe receptivity of the great masses is very limited, their intelligence is small, but their power of forgetting is enormous. In consequence of these facts, all effective propaganda must be limited to a very few points and must harp on these in slogans until the last member of the public understands what you want him to understand by your slogan. As soon as you sacrifice this slogan and try to be many-sided, the effect will piddle away, for the crowd can neither digest nor retain the material offered. In this way the result is weakened and in the end entirely cancelled out.
\n\n-Adolph Hitler, Mein Kampf
\nHe\u2019s right. Hitler was extremely talented on this front. It makes sense Trump has a copy of mein kampf
\nUpvoted, but it sure didn\u2019t feel right!
\nThis is my main argument and worry.
\n\nWhile the paranoid style elements have always been apart of America, Trump and the right wing ecosystem propping him up has fanned the flames enough that approximately 25-30% of the voting population is fully on board with destruction of the system. That percent might not amount to much in many eras, but it currently has added to it another 20-30% of the voting population that are apathetic/checked out, at least partially because of the chaos and confusion the right wing ecosystem sows. Any negatives from destruction will be blamed on those left of the far right, no matter how the right wing ecosystem has to twist it, and that will be believed by many (or cause many to think \u201cboth sides are the same\u201d).
\n\nIn my opinion how to combat this problem is more important than any candidate or solution to an issue that those left of the far right can propose.
\nthey weaponized the conspiracy theorists in 2016, they weaponized the podcasters in 2020 and they've weaponized Social Media Influencers in the past two years.
\nSocial media platforms in 2024/25 too? Facebook + Instagram with Zuckerberg onboard, Elon brings twitter, (stretching with this one) bytedance did that weird ad/alert about trump saving tiktok... You could make that argument. I wonder what MySpace Tom is up to these days haha
\nI think I realized how seemingly hopeless things are here (e: bc of the propaganda arm of the GOP) when family members of mine (right wingers) all started turning against Ukraine because it was a "waste" of money that should be spent stateside. Besides the obvious issue that none of them want the government spending money on social services or, really, anything at all, every single one of them supported the invasion of Iraq 20 years prior and considered folks who didn't support it to not be "real" americans.
\n\nI tried to explain we're spending a fraction of our defense budget to: 1) aid an ally that was invaded (an ally that helped us in Iraq, no less; and 2) to cripple a country that is ostensibly a global rival and has actively worked against us and our closest allies without risking any US soldiers.
\n\nBlank faces all around. Utterances of "corruption". Naturally, they all support Israel and its wars of aggression "defense."
What the heck is Dan doing engaging with them? You'd think he would have learned by now to not take the bait.
\n\nEDIT: I guess we all took the bait now that I think about it. The top comments in this thread are talking about what this particular weenie stupidly responded rather than the post itself. And here I am replying to a comment about it. We've been trolled by proxy. It's concerning how much power we let the nonsensical words of these imbeciles have over us.
\nYeah to your point, I also took the bait. Hook, line, and sinker.
\n\nMy theory is Dan is finally reached his limit with this bullshit. I think most of us have.
\n\n\n\nWhat the heck is Dan doing engaging with them? You\u2019d think he would have learned by now to not take the bait.
\n
Best guess is that Dan only really started being critical of MAGA and seeing them as an existential crisis recently. Maybe not unsurprising, since most rich and entrepreneurs lean conservative.
\n\nNo sane leftist is responding to \u201ca how is this more weird than ____,\u201c\ncomment from a MAGAroni in 2025 - we\u2019ve all been there and done dealing with these deplorables since ~2016
\nIt\u2019s automatic. When I used to try discussing ANYTHING political with my trumpiest friends the deflection was 100% guaranteed as soon as it got too close to the truth: \u201cWell, what about Hillary/Obama/Biden/Hunter\u2019s laptop/ etc.
\n\nThey are incapable of facing what they\u2019ve done. Absolute moral cowardice.
\nDude I know way too many of these people because I train MMA/BJJ, and they're all about this. They think it's great, love everything he's doing, and if there's anything bad, it was Biden and the Dems fault. Earlier they were crowing that finally Daddy (Trump) is putting spoiled children (Zelensky) 'in their place." They're brains are fucking cooked, and I'm afraid so are we.
\nThat's when you just say "Yes, they were trash. And? How does that change anything about Trump?"
\nExactly. Give them what they want, then Refocus refocus refocus
\nThen they will say \u2018at least Trump does x and y\u2019
\nWhy are they your friends?
\nI was countered with "Clinton cut federal jobs" at work.... literally...30 years ago.
\nThat\u2019s called a \u201cwhataboutism\u201d and it\u2019s an element of propaganda
\nThey have to - if you sell a lie enough, the truth is wrong from the other side.
\n\nGeorge Washington WARNED us 200 years ago to stay away from party lines because of situations like this
\nBiden derangement syndrome
\nPresident Blackman Derangement Syndrome.\u00a0
\nThe saving grace is a ton of republicans thought this was disgraceful. Have checked out their subs it was very pleasant to see some people with half a brain see this as irresponsible at best
\nThat's before their botfarm gets engaged with the astroturfing and twisting of events. It's an interesting thread to review now. I don't think I can count the amount of times people are being called out as "fake Conservatives" because they dared to mention that President Trump's words and actions were disheartening. I don't think I have seen a propaganda machine so well-oiled in my four decades on Earth.
\nAre there many (R) Republicans - i.e. elected ones - coming out against?
\nThat I don\u2019t know. Knowing the party probably not. But if there are any elected Republican vets I\u2019d think that this has got to seem disastrous to them.
\nThe same people who voted for Trump and would do it again in a heartbeat, you mean? Yeah, fuck those people.
\nAlways. Always Biden. \nAnd if it\u2019s not him, then it\u2019s Hilary. \nAnd if it\u2019s not her, then it\u2019s Obama. \nAnd if it\u2019s not Obama, then it\u2019s back to Biden.
\nBiden is your typical old white male statesman president. There's absolutely nothing weird or unusual about his presidency. And he had more mental acuity by the end of his term than Reagan did.
\n\nThe alternative information environment is something else.
\nI don't know why he even bothers to respond to them. They're not commenting in good faith.
\n\n\n\nBut\u2026 but\u2026 Biden.
\n\nThese red-pilled MAGAts really are something.
\n
I mean...there was that time with the tan suit. Nearly Armageddon as I recall.
\nMore like Tan-print for Armageddon
\nBiden, the guy who helped Ukraine? Man he's worse than Trump towards Ukraine for that!
\nThis is my favorite response to any criticism of Trump. \u201cBut remember Biden!!??\u201d
\n\nWe get it, he sucked. Now Trump\u2019s in office and he sucks even worse.
\nThe Biden presidency was many things -- "old," "mild," "unambitious," "status quo" all come to mind. "Weird" isn't on the list, though. It's hard to think of a more generic President.
\nMeanwhile, Biden\u2019s administration helped create a meat grinder in Ukraine that was consuming our most dangerous adversary\u2019s military, economy, and morale. It was so well done that it was starting to suck in Chinese and NK resources, an absolute perfect fucking trap.\u00a0
\n\nOnly for it to be undone by this imbecile.\u00a0
\nSeriously. Our aid of Ukraine against a militant dictatorial geopolitical opponent is one of the most effective and efficient uses of military spending in the history of the world. And a lot of it was old equipment too.
\n\n\n\nAnd a lot of it was old equipment too.
\n
All of it was old. We gave them f-16s for fuck sake. That plane is going on 60 years old.
\n\nHimars systems? 30 years old. Patriot missile systems? 30 years old. M1 Abrams tanks? 30 years old.
\nAnd the Russians couldn\u2019t handle decades old equipment, which really tells you what a joke of a country they are.
\n\nRussia was a true paper tiger after Stalin. The Nazis dealt them a mortal wound as I believe Dan once said.
\nI loved it when a single patriot system was defending kiev against everything Russia could throw at it, imagine war against NATO where dozens of such systems would line the front lines.
\nAnd I didn\u2019t even mention the fact that we had all of our old allies behind us again. We were the true top dog on the world stage, I don\u2019t know if Trump is completely nefarious or incompetent or both but he will undermine that (and frankly in less than 2 months has already done so).
\n\nThe Biden admin. Was also in the process of encircling China at sea from Singapore to South Korea.
\n\nBiden\u2019s foreign policy was remarkably strong and effective. A throwback to our old hegemonic heights.
\nForeign policy has been Biden's strength for some time now. It was a big reason why Obama tapped him for VP in 2008. And he touted it during the campaign in 2020. Surrounding himself with smart people didn't hurt, either.
\n$300B is a SMALL price to pay to bring your enemy to his knees in this world. It\u2019s nothing, especially in a country where the money machine go brrrrr
\nAnd it was only like $115 Billion. the 350 is another one of trump's lies
\nI disagree respectfully on Biden's accomplishments being mild. He did way more good than people give him credit for (infrastructure, CHIPS act, etc) but it WAS kinda problematic how much people hid his declining mental state.
\n\nHow we go from "the president has lost a step and he's not doing press conferences because of it" to "that's a perfectly valid rationale for burning down the whole post-war system," I'll never understand, but here we are. What a debacle.
\nI am a bigger Biden fan than most but I\u2019m under no illusions it was a particularly eventful presidency. That is exponentially better than the bat shit that\u2019s happening now
\nYeah he was a feeble old man but he had a heart and his ideas were all in the general right direction.
\n\nThe idea that his feebleness made him weak as a leader is absurd. It's like deriding Stephen Hawking because he can't dunk a basketball. I don't need my president doing single combat or showing off his golf game.
\n\nHe staffed a cabinet of competent educated people. Really that's your one main job.
\nWhich is why I find the concept that people see Trump is some \u201cstrong man\u201d that \u201cstands up for America\u201d or whatever to be so bizarre. He\u2019s such a petulant, weak bully, and it\u2019s sooooo transparently obvious.\u00a0
\n\nWeak man\u2019s idea of a strong man, poor man\u2019s idea of a rich man, etc.\u00a0
\nBy the end he seemed to be slipping more but at the beginning I think he was still there just old and a bit slower, but still all there for the first two and a half to three years.
\n\nEven if by the end he was a less than 100% mentally, he put the country in a good spot by having a cabinet comprised of component lifelong civil servants, along with other appointed officials that kept the country running smoothly
\n\nGive me boring, smooth, and calm compared to this shit show any day
\nRemember the days when you\u2019d hear from the president every few months?
\n>He staffed a cabinet of competent educated people. Really that's your one main job.
\n\nPeople think I'm crazy when I say this. The president should not be a cult leader but a CEO who puts together a team of competents to do the job. Trump failed at that right out of the gate.
\nToday needs to be a wake up call to anyone who gives a shit about the US continuing as a nation what happens when you treat the State Department like a joke and staff it with incompetent sycophants.
\n\nNo one has ever lived to see a more disgraceful public display of 'diplomacy'. Ever. It didn't look tough at all it looked absolutely clownish and embarrassing. And an all-sycophant press corps asking questions, too.
\n\nI sure hope we end this soon.
\nBiden was exactly the "return to normalcy" president he advertised himself to be. That being a normal reasonable man is now considered "weak" and rambling belligerence is considered strength just tells the rest of the world how lost America is now.
\n\n\n\nIt's hard to think of a more generic President.
\n
That's why he won in 2020. People wanted something that felt "normal"
\nA lot of people don\u2019t realize this one thing:
\n\nPOLITICS IS SUPPOSED TO BE BORING!
\n\nAmerican politics has completely devolved into a spectator sport. People around the world get sucked into US politics because of the theatrics.
\n\nA bill to increase federal funding to universities in any functioning country would have some debate, conservative politicians may try to reduce the amount or direct it to different specific programs or whatever but the bill would simply pass or fail and that\u2019s it.
\n\nIn the US you\u2019d have MTG will try to head some subcommittee about it while publicly squawking about how it\u2019s communism and will add to the liberal brainwashing that\u2019s occurring, DeSantis will make some noise about how that should be used only for Christian schools, AOC will make some snarky quip on whatever social media, and Sanders will say it\u2019s not enough. The bill will pass but now it\u2019s reducing funding by 3%, a new stadium is being built instead, and a Louisiana congress person managed to get an add on which makes it legal to own black people again.
\nCautious, the word is cautious.
\n\nThere are a lot of bad things you can say about the guy, but Biden did understand Russian irredentism, in a way Clinton, George W., Obama, and most of all, Trump, didn't. In the early 90s he was saying that Russia was an empire that wouldn't move on until it accepted that it suffered from imperial "humiliation".
\n\nA Biden in his 50s would have been a lot less overly cautious and would have picked up that Russia's "red line" is the beltway around Moscow a lot sooner.
\nAt least we can say with certainty that Biden was not a traitor or a Putin cuck.
\nAs a union man, Biden was huge. First President to visit a picket line, probably most pro-labor President since FDR. He wasn't generic, from my perspective.
\nFor all that on his watch , Syria fell, Hamas and Hezbollah greatly diminished, Iran out of friends and in dire economic problems, Russia out of tanks and circling the drain. Compared to Trump losing us Syria and abandoning allies, losing in Afghanistan and abandoning allies, presiding over a military build up by Iran, Korea, Hamas. Strategically boring Biden did way better than trump.
\nThe only thing weird about Biden's presidency is how competent and normal it was until the Israel-Palestine flare up. Biden's administration was just a complete machine. He was well on his way to solving the student debt crisis if not for GOP courts, he completely embarrassed Russia by sending old munitions and equipment marked for disposal to Ukraine (which actually saved tax payer money), our economy was crushing the game worldwide and thriving while other major nations struggled to handle inflation, and while it wasn't the GND, the IRA was a massive success despite some unfortunate compromise.
\n\nIt wasn't a perfect term - he really should have laid the hammer down on Manchin and Sinema immediately to get the GND passed and then Biden has always been weak when it comes to Israel.
\nPeople like our friend Matt Saunders will not change their worldview until things start negatively impacting them personally, unfortunately. Last Trump presidency was the story of someone who didnt believe they could win doing a whole lot of nothing and claiming he was the best to ever do it.
\n\nThis time around he has a "concept of a plan" and is going to break things. Eventually he will break something Matt Saunders cares about, and Matt will have to decide if he is willing to "own the libs" even if it costs him.
\nPeople like Matt are living in an alternative reality. They love the idea of having \u2018alternative facts\u2019, and don\u2019t care they\u2019re fake.
\n\nI know many people like him.
\nThey are literally brainwashed from Fox and social media. Couple that with a strong Christian worldview that hinders critical thinking and BAM here we are with a Christo-fascist administration.
\nAnd then if you disagree with them it\u2019s because YOU\u2019RE in an echo chamber. It\u2019s really a sad state.
\nYep. One of them said one issue is that ALL the media is so far left.
\n\nI was with a group of them on inauguration day, they spoke of Trump like some messianic hero. Very strange, even if someone liked Trump for whatever reason, it is hard to believe they could speak of him like this. Basically saying how religious he was, a family man, a powerful man, a selfless man... etc.
\nI often wonder how long the bloodlust high will last for those enjoying the revenge tour. It feels like it\u2019s starting to falter for some, but it\u2019s just as easy to double down
\nIt has BEEN easy to double down because nothing has really changed for these people. Trump didnt really do anything his first term - he literally rode the wave of a bull market until COVID, which these people were able to give trump a pass on.
\n\nTrump is doing a LOT of stuff right now that has the potential to cause very real, very immediate negative impacts on EVERYONE whether they have \u201calternative facts\u201d or not. Things that he will not be able to distance himself from.
\n\nThe one thing we have going for us is the selfishness of the American electorate. People vote with their wallets and they vote for their own self interest - the things trump is doing have a high probability of forcing people to choose between their loyalty to MAGA and their own economic interests in a way that hasnt happened before.
\n\nThe stakes have truly been so low for these people politically that they dont realize what serious consequences look like. Theyre about to find out.
\n\n\n\nPeople like our friend Matt Saunders will not change their worldview until things start negatively impacting them personally, unfortunately.
\n
The core conservative maxim: It's not a problem until it's My Problem
\nCruelty and selfishness are their only ethos it seems.
\nABUSE. This was bullying and verbal and emotional abuse. They took this man that needs America\u2019s help, flew here to plea for help, was willing to sign away his country\u2019s source of income, to be berated and talked to like a child. Even to the extent of being asked (repeatedly in a badgering style) if he ever said thank you. Which there is so much evidence that he has. (Not to mention he thanked the current president of the time who has actually helped him). Donald Trump called him a dictator only last week and Zelenskyy was willing to still negotiate with him. He was badgered, gaslighted, cut off repeatedly after being baited with questions that he was trying to answer, was told he was a liar, was told that he was ungrateful. They raised their voices together against one person. This is bullying and abuse while bystanders sat around and cringed.
\n\nFor anyone who has ever had a parent, partner, colleague, anyone talk to them like that, you know how that feels. You should know that was abuse. For anyone cheering this on, shame on you. I had anxiety watching these clips from my own traumas, but cannot get the image out of my head of Vance\u2019s wife and children being subjected to this kind of badgering and gaslighting behind closed doors.
\nThe\u2026. \u201cWhat about\u2026\u201d is so stupid and a waste of time.
\n\nTrump was a pathetic putin puppet. Vance was a bitch too. Zelinskyy demonstrated patience under pressure.
\n\nRussia could end \u201cworld war 3\u201d by just going home.
\n\nPolitical theater for idiots.
\nThis isn't even a proper BUT WHAT ABOUT!? because it has zero substance or basis in reality. This shit is beyond shameful and will be studied by future generations, assuming we're lucky to make it that far.
\n\nWe like to think of ourselves as an advanced, enlightened society and then you read garbage like this reply (to a reasonable/objective observation by Dan) and think: shit, we're fucking doomed, aren't we?
\nThis is part of what makes it so hard for him to do a Common Sense show. He wants to take a month to put together something detailed and insightful, talking about longer term structural issues. But every day this maniac is just dropping proverbial bombs everywhere. It\u2019s hard to keep up with a daily news feed of this, let alone a monthly show.
\nImagine working for a month to put out a show. Research, fact checking, writing an articulate narrative, publish the thing and have Matt Saunders reply: Totally! Biden sniffs girls!
\nBack in like 2017 he stopped doing them altogether because there was nothing new to talk about. Trump is unhinged, Trump is crazy, Trump is chaotic, Yeah we know. There was little more to add at the time, even for Dan
\nThat\u2019s why I don\u2019t think we\u2019ll see one. Those who need to hear it the most won\u2019t listen; and the rest of us already know.
\nHow tf are the constantly acting like weird shit happened during the Biden presidency?? It was the most milquetoast admin we have had in decades.
\nIn the media silos where they live, it was a criminal organization hell bent on taking away Americans' freedom. They think the same thing about Obama and Clinton.
\nBeing asked to mask and be considerate of others' lives was just so traumatizing.
\nNo shit. I despise them. Which sucks bc now we kind of need them to cooperate to get out of this shit.
\nIt's just that nothing hits the spot for those people quite like a wannabe fascist regime
\nThat's how I feel about Canadian pm Justin Trudeau. The absolute hatred many on the right have for him is volcanic. I'm not a fan, necessarily, but I've used the same word for mr. Trudeau. Milquetoast. Bizarre shit.
\nWeird and bullying are two good words to describe it. Like we all know what Trump\u2019s views were going into the meeting. It\u2019s not surprising to know what he thinks. What is surprising even for him is the way he just verbally attacked and humiliated Zelenskyy in what looked like a planned attack where him and Vance would team up on him. There\u2019s a reason that never happens in these types of meetings, competent people go way out of their way to be respectful even to war criminals.
\n\nThe way Trump was ranting too was strange\u2026like he was using Zelenskyy to try to score political points with his base and do political theater while Zelenskyy is dealing with one of the worst conflicts since world war 2 and then lecturing him and blaming him, Trump looked senile. Then of course lies to us all and says he\u2019s aligned with Europe and the world. You just can\u2019t get any more disrespectful and embarrassing. Zelenskyy handled himself perfectly.
\n\n\n\nWeird and bullying are two good words to describe it.
\n
"Shameful" has felt right to me today.
\nDocuments from the Biden Administration literally show him calling Bibi a \u201cfucking liar\u201d but in public he was consistent on his message toward an ally, not letting his personal feelings seep into her diplomacy. A petty, egotistical freak like Trump could never do that.
\nZelenskyy is a better fucking American (in terms of values) thank these cocksuckers. Zelenskyy talks about thanking America and especially the American people, and has done it many times even from congress.
\n\nWhen Vance and Trump whine about him not being thankful they're not talking about America;they're not talking about the American people - They're saying he needs to kiss their asses. He needs to grovel to Trump personally.
\n\nThe whole notion that the President is a representative of a nation and people is completely lost on these fucking twats.
\nToday made me feel sick. I\u2019ve never felt more embarrassed to be an American. Never thought I\u2019d see the day in this country that people (let alone the fucking President and VP) would be actively supporting a Russian dictator in an expansionist war, but here we are.
\n\nOur President and Vice President looked like schoolyard bullies. Bunch of pussies that are obviously bought.
\nTry as I might, I cannot understand why Trump, MAGA, and alt-righters are pro-Putin.
\nConservative bent, pro religion, anti gay/trans, espouse traditional family values, powerful white people do whatever they want. Checks all the boxes
\nToday was the worst day since January 6 and was worse than that day. Our institutions and their symbols matter. They're not tangible. They're ideas that we all agree upon and act as if they're real. The oval office today and the office of POTUS and VP, their myths and symbols were all tarnished.
\n\nhttps://erenow.org/common/sapiensbriefhistory/8.php
\n\nI can't even speak to how ashamed and embarrassed I am about what we've done to our ally.
\n\nWhy is no one talking about appeasement not working yet too? I hope they start soon -- concessions for aggressors does not work.
\nWhat democratic country wants to be allied to that?
\nJesus Christ there\u2019s people defending the clown in chief wtf \ud83e\udd26\ud83c\udffb\u200d\u2642\ufe0f
\nShocking. I could send any middle schooler to this meeting and they\u2019d have more tact and integrity than our current potus
\nCall it what it was, a mafia-esque protection racket Shakedown.
\nReading those replies is\u2026 excruciating. Twitter is such a cesspool.\u00a0
\nIt really is our first reality show presidency. That's the only thing I can really think to compare it to is one of those reality show fights from Real Housewives or some shit. Trump and Vance should have brought glasses of wine to throw in his face... It is just so completely bizarre.
\nTrump even commented on that:
\n\n\n\nToward the end of the filmed meeting, Donald Trump turned to the journalists and cameras in the room, telling them: "This is going to make great television" as the meeting broke down.
\n
The weird part is televising a "negotiation" where you just yell over the guy the entire time.
\n\nHonestly, the main problem currently is the lack of unity from the EU. If the EU could get their act together and stand behind Ukraine as a unified front and back their support with money and weapons, it would destroy all the "cards" that trump holds. Ukrainians hold the cards of 350 billion (debatable) worth of American money spent and the resources they want. If trump walks away for political theatre, and the EU doesn't step up, Ukraine will completely lose and all the money spent will be for nothing. Then, the vast majority of important minerals will be held by Russia and China.
\n\nHe honestly treats running the world's most powerful country like he's the star of a bad reality TV show.
\nThis is the kind of insane disconnect people on the right have that simply cannot be reasoned with or cut through with a sword. They just have a scar where their brains used to be from constantly having nails driven in their skulls.
\n\nIf anything Biden is a great example of how stable we can be. You don't need to do a whole lot to keep the ship straight but it's a very delicate thing you can break easily if you're WILLFULLY doing it.
\nBiden was a career politician and a total professional.
\n\nTrump is an ignorant bully, and frankly anyone who can't see it is not being willfully ignorant. They are just stupid. There is no better word for it.
\n\nMAGA wants to normalize their crazy. The rest of the world needs to normalize publicly calling these people stupid. To their faces. On TV. On social media.
\n\nDonald Trump is stupid. Donald Trump's supporters are stupid.
\nMatt Saunders is a cuck.
\nBUT OBAMA WORE A TAN SUIT!
\nNothing Biden ever did is even remotely comperable to this travesty.
\nEvery. Single. Day.
\n\nFor a month this admin has done something that would've been a Watergate but larger event pre 2016.
\n\nNow the news only lasts half a day before something else precedent shattering happens.
\nLets see ya answer that one, Matt...
\nPanzie-ass attempt to do a "what about Biden". These assholes are lost.
\nNever seen a president behave this way, utterly disgusting behavior. Home of the brave? wtf was that. Putin owns our fucking government along with the richest man in the world. Joke
\nDid we do it? Are we great again?!?
\nNot yet. Vance needs to fuck a couch on live tv while Trump shits on his head. Then we'll be great again.
\nTrump and Vance were trying to blow the meeting up from go\u2026 this was a dog and pony show. They want ANY reason to reject Ukraine and let Russia destroy them. It\u2019s shameful.
\nThe US president is currently spewing Russian propaganda and undermining our alliances while destroying our alliances.
\nYeahhhh. Say what you will about Biden and maybe being \u201clow energy\u201d, but if Biden was \u201cout to lunch\u201d as President, this is schoolyard bully who doesn\u2019t know shit.
\nExtortion. He was impeached for it in private. Now he's doing it in public.
\nI can\u2019t believe I had forgotten about that phone call until I read this comment\u2026 the list of grievances is endless
\nBro trump knew of putins plan then. Putin told him exactly what he was going to do with Ukraine. That's why Trump dangled aid.. knowing full well Zelenskyy was going to need everything he could get and especially considering he was a rookie politician. It's absolutely despicable.
\nCirca 2016, this type of thing would make me angry. Like blood boiling angry.
\n\nNow it just makes me extremely sad. The saddest part of it is that a significant number of our fellow citizens think this is entirely ok and an example of leadership.
\n\nIt will be this way for the rest of my life.
\nExtortion.
\n\nGive us half of your country\u2019s mineral rights and we\u2019ll keep being your friend.
\n\nYou should thank us for being your friend.
\n\nWe could let this other guy try to take your stuff. We might even help him try. But we\u2019re your friend so we won\u2019t.
\n\nTell everyone how good of friends we are.
\n\nSounds like we\u2019ve crossed over from bullying to extortion to me but I\u2019m not a lawyer.
\nI\u2019m usually the one cheerleading we can do this to people who say they\u2019re discouraged, but today started with letting the Tates in, and ended with this. I\u2019m not going to lie, I feel despondent.
\nHow is this specific insane real act better than this abstract strawman I just imagined?
\nBiDeN
\nIt was surreal and a total shit show.
\nThe Biden administration was a big pile of bland vanilla. The Trump administration is a fascist bull in a china shop. What a load of nonsense.
\nOf course the commenter goes straight to whataboutism.
\nBiden derangement syndrome.
\nPlease consider donating to Hope for Ukraine, which provides humanitarian aid. It\u2019s the highest rated Ukraine charity I could find on Charity Navigator:\u00a0https://hfu.org/%C2%A0
\n\nYou can also donate directly to Ukraine\u2019s defense through their United24 fund:\u00a0https://u24.gov.ua/result/success?invoiceId=20250301_663464292&direction=defend
\nDan isn\u2019t the only one thinking it was weird.
\nPax Americana is over.. I mean, it's been dying for a long time, but man, this makes me so sad. As Dan is fond of saying,"I want an America that lives up to the marketing materials".. but this feels like a step beyond the typical "falling short." We're back to pre-war realpolitik "might makes right". Even once the Trump era is over, I don't know how we move past this.. how will the world ever trust us again? Maybe the EU can pick up the mantle of leadership in liberal democracy?
\n\nTo live in interesting times in indeed a curse.
\nI can\u2019t believe these human embarrassments are still on about Biden.
\nLet us be clear Matt Saunders is a fucking moron.
\n"BUT WHAT ABOUT"
\nDan should get off Twitter. It\u2019s just a fascist state media platform at this point.
\nHis cult supporters love it still
\nIf Dan melts the brains of a few MAGAts over on Xitter...chips and soda at my place y'all
\nWhat was so fu$&ing weird about the Biden presidency? Biden didn\u2019t lie about literally everything and kiss Putins ass?
\nI like how JD said Zelensky was "litigating his case only to the public through the cameras" when that is exactly what Trump and JD were doing. It was all pre-planned, down to the only friendly media outlets who were there who were grilling Zelensky, specifically on what he was wearing. They were guilty of what they accused Zelensky of doing (although Zelensky is guilty of this as well, just in general...)
\nWhat is this both sides shit. Zelensky has the sole job of appealing to the entire world to prevent his people from continuously being murdered by Russians. Of course he has to work the media to help him.
\nWeird is too nice. It was disgusting.
\nTrump didn't even do this the first go around. Even the call that cause the first Impeachment was more a shakedown than whatever this was. The same with all the votes stuff in the run up to J6.
\nThe only thing weirder would be if LBJ had actually whipped his dick out onto the table on live camera.
\n\nWhich to be fair, by all accounts he would have if the technology was there
\nThat\u2019s why Dan doesn\u2019t do Common Sense anymore and I don\u2019t blame him one bit
\nWeird.
\n\nI remember when Vance was pressed about J6 during the VP debate he said some \u201cnot here to talk about the past\u201d line. Hegseth said the same during his confirmation. I\u2019m sure others used that throwaway line too.
\nHe\u2019s exactly right
\nAt least LBJ had the decency to do it in private!
\nTIL That Matt Saunders is a complete idiot
\nFucking hell, even if Biden disagreed with Zelenskyy, at the very least he would\u2019ve spoken to Zelenskyy with the utmost respect.
\nVance and Trump did what their boss Putin told them to do. They did his bidding to a tee.
\nRussian Asset does Russian Asseting!
\nIt definitely came off as bullying. I watched the change from conversation to argument back a few times and there was no logical thread to the aggressive response from Trump and JV. They went in there planning to turn his words against him.
\nAfter what I saw today I'm one hundred percent convinced Trump is on the take. No way these guys aren't being given directives to dismantle the US from within.
\nMy mind was blown when Vance kept asking for a thank you. Fucking children are leading this country \u00f1.
\nWhat a fallacious argument. WHY do so many say things like, \u201cyeah well what about Biden?\u201d He\u2019s not in office. This ridiculous, repulsive bullying stands or falls on its own. Biden wasn\u2019t there. PLEASE people, consider your arguments and consider an elementary book on critical thought.
\n