The photos of the "crowds" at the tank parade remind me of when Bill Hicks would come on stage in an almost-empty club, scan the room slowly, and announce "I've had more people in bed than this" ...
When the president sends a cabinet member on TV to announce "We are using the military to liberate an American city from its elected leaders," where do you go from there. What is left to say. The idea of that being anything short of a near-universal "Wait, what the fuck is going on" moment proves how far we've backslid.
This is from 2022 but it was absolutely right. The practiced buffoonery of Trump 1, all the "just kiddings" and "seriously but not literallys" absolutely succeeded in desensitizing people who are hardly paying any attention to the harder stuff they always intended to do next. ...
The basic fallacy in chasing votes by being "tough on immigration" is that the modal American's position on the issue is "Deport the Bad ones and keep the Good ones," and they alone know who is which, and that simply does not translate into workable policy. So this kind of gestapo stuff horrifies some of the same people who cheered when Trump promised to do it. There are true sociopaths who love this, but "No, I meant only the BAD immigrants! Not my coworker/friend/neighbor!" is as likely a reaction as enthusiasm. You cannot do immigration policy that satisfies these people because what they want is nonsensical.
So by the time center-left parties fully commit to chasing the far right by "getting tough" on immigration, the backlash has already begun to build and they walk right into it. "I thought you people wanted this!" No, they want something impossible and convinced themselves they'd could have it - the "eat whatever you want AND lose weight!" of immigration policies.
It is hard to grasp but large masses of Americans are both racist/xenophobic AND not racist/xenophobic enough to applaud what Trump is doing. It's goldilocks shit, they want a level of racism/xenophobia calibrated exactly to their personal preferences, and you just can't make that policy. Don't try. ...
AP: Trump extends olive branch, invites Musk to White House cellar to taste some brand new amontillado ...
Desargues says:
I look forward to ADM's next hit, "Bennett!", to be followed, in quick succession, by "Come with me if you wanna live," "My mission is to protect you," and "Fuck you, asshole!"
But how many Austrian death machines are there? Arnie's at least the second, if we start with Adolf from Linz.
Nate says:
Ed, I love you dearly, but I'm supposed to feel sorry for a bunch of over privileged young assholes because they don't know who they are?
That article encapsulates why I quit reading Gawker. I felt a similar urge to stick my fist through the monitor, and I doubt my employer would like that.
Pan Sapiens says:
I'm not quite sure when I became "Red" Forman from "That 70s Show", but obviously I..I've become him. Especially after reading that Gawker piece. My immediate reaction was "Dumbasses!". I don't want to see any of those youngsters on my lawn.
Desargues says:
I'm not sure which is most galling — really, a slap in the face of any decent person who reads — the Times chronicling the post-crash tribulations of gazillionaires reduced to owning a mere two yachts and a mid-size country; or these fuckwits cataloging the trivial adversities of young white shits lost on motherfuckin' Facebook. Fuck them both, I say; I couldn't give a shit about these asswipes if my life depended on it.
Ike says:
Huzzah! My life sucks; I'm single and broke. You know what I'm doing about it? Working 60 hours a week and starting two businesses on the side. Blood and sweat take care of most ills. The ocean handles the rest.
moonbat says:
I'm well past a QuarterLife crisis, but I know what it's like to be lost for a very long time. Thanks for the article.
beau says:
1. "We care not for talk of 20-something angst! Make with the talk of crocheting and getting up in the middle of the night to pee!". Ed – you have been told. Please blog only on subjects that reflect your aging readers' views – you know, like TownHall.com
2. Yeah, these guys know their Haiti. But one of them big hospital boats is probably a good start.
3. Like a layer cake of awesome – the song, the clip, the arnie.
Ed says:
I agree, Beau. Reading these comments made me wonder if I had stumbled upon the Daily Caller by accident.
Pan Sapiens says:
… then Ed, I curse you with the one curse that works: Someday, you too will be old and your prostate shall be the size of an orange, and you will be annoyed with little nattering fuck-twats whose brains have not yet grown into the fronts of their skulls.
choada777 says:
Holy shit! That described me down to the tee.
From the desire to visit Singapore and attend grad school to hating my unfulfilling, pointless, underpaying job and banal conversation.
I guess I really am an asshole.
scribe says:
I clicked this expecting Neustadt.
MarilynJean says:
I'm a twentysomething and I think that quarter life shit is a joke. Desargues@7:57 said it best. I mean really: what the fuck is the problem? Crisis seems so damn dramatic. Meanwhile in Haiti…