"We’ve seen Trump’s theatrics before — on reality TV" by Matthew Gilbert Globe Staff August 25, 2015
Donald Trump is the first candidate to employ the tenets of reality TV in a run for president of the United States, to use a savvy reality contestant’s approach to sticking around and evading elimination rounds. And he certainly had experience in the field, with backstage and onscreen roles in “The Apprentice” shows, the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants, and the blueprint for the entire reality TV genre, WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment), where theatricality is king.
So far, it’s working brilliantly, as Trump continues to prevail at “Survivor: D.C.” tribal councils to become the leader of recent polls in the Republican race.
I wrote OMG in the margin of my printed pos.
It's all a f***ing show, and I guess that makes Trump a target.
*****************
Oh, he’s smart enough to position his tirades and shots from the hip as a kind of refreshing honesty, in contrast to the phoniness and over-caution of other politicians. “They have to throw a lot of consultants away and be themselves,” he recently suggested in Time magazine about his competitors. But really, his bluster is pure attention-seeking stagecraft, a series of plays to stay on the show and boost ratings. On reality TV, after all, dignity gets you nowhere — voted off, perhaps, or left on to serve as the foil for some more triumphant bully.
That’s why, last year, instead of simply criticizing President Obama’s approach to the Ebola crisis, Trump used the word “psycho.”
Obama says "crazies."
That’s why, this month, he has chucked taunts at Massachusetts politicians including Secretary of State John Kerry, Senator Elizabeth Warren, Governor Charlie Baker, and Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh, calling Walsh a “clown” and saying, “Get a real mayor.”
:-)
*******************
In a way, it’s not surprising to see the mojo of reality TV leaking into our political process.
I guess I'm more naive than I thought; the TV critic doing the political analysis really blinded me.
Reality contests are like little elections, with viewers or the players themselves casting votes. And Trump is discovering that the more incendiary qualities that work on a show like “Survivor” or “The Apprentice” can extend to our electoral process.
Then we are done.
Drama and outrageousness often take the day — anything that will stoke next-day buzz and social media commotion.
That first word good for what I was thinking and feeling, and I don't make that much of a buzz (but I love my readership).
Along with the voyeurism of watching strangers and the aspirational pull of fame and fortune, we have embraced and supported reality TV for more than two decades because we like being entertainingly scandalized and helping to decide who gets to be a star.
That is so condescending, and I'm not really surprised. Never a thought that the stuff is being shoved down our throat or that the slop is simply being thrown out there for propaganda and diversionary purposes by the .01%-owned ma$$ media, who have so much paper money falling out of their pockets they don't know what to do with it all.
The other thing is, it is NOT REALITY. The programs are edited and presented through the producers prism, just like my paper (and apparently my politics).
Six Zionist Companies Own 96% of the World's Media
Declassified: Massive Israeli manipulation of US media exposed
Operation Mockingbird
Why Am I No Longer Reading the Newspaper?
That's the narrative I'm getting, and it sucks.
But playing “made you look” with America isn’t the same as running America. The presidential campaign only looks like a reality competition, a face-off among personality types. The candidates only look like contestants. On a deeper and more critical level, it’s an interview process for a job, with America doing the choosing.
Yeah, and this insulting approach to such an important thing is offensive.
Maybe if you are the elite of Bo$ton you like this kind of thing. I'm not complaining; they are just serving ever-dwindling readership.
So far, Trump is outwitting, outplaying, and outlasting. The question is: Could he actually win?
Yes and no. In a truly fair vote, he just well might. He's got the money to stay in. When you take rigged voting machines into account....
--more--"
One thing seems clear. Trump does bring in numbers, quote unquote.
Fox News chief demands apology from Trump
Roger Ailes of all people (ha-ha-ha-ha-ha), regarding Megyn Kelly stuff.
Did you see who his boss is endorsing?
Fox News Owner Rupert Murdoch Touts Michael Bloomberg for President
A third-party run for that $cum?
When does Jim take over?
Donald Trump is no champion of the little guy
Globe's resident Jewish neo-con doesn't like him, either.
So who do you think would make a good nominee for Vice President?
A third-party run for that $cum?
When does Jim take over?
Donald Trump is no champion of the little guy
Globe's resident Jewish neo-con doesn't like him, either.
So who do you think would make a good nominee for Vice President?
"Bush assails Trump on immigration; In Texas, calls fence plan costly and unrealistic" by Sergio Bustos Associated Press August 25, 2015
McALLEN, Texas — On his own visit to the Mexican border Monday, Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush denounced Donald Trump’s immigration plan as unrealistic and expensive. And he did it mostly in Spanish.
I keep forgetting to tag all these pieces regarding immigration with the South American and Mexico labels.
One wonders if it is a Freudian slip on my part; have I already excepted a North American Union as well as the destruction of nation states in Europe and elsewhere with the massive migrations sweeping the planet right now? That's the intent of it all, whether you want to face up to the fact or not.
The former Florida governor told reporters Trump should read his book, ‘‘Immigration Wars,’’ if he wants to learn how to deal with illegal immigration. Earlier, he met privately with local, state, and federal officials in this city along the Rio Grande across from Reynosa, Mexico.
Trump has proposed building a massive border fence and kicking out the estimated 11 million people who are in the United States illegally before allowing the ‘‘good ones’’ and ‘‘talented’’ ones back in.
The feeling here is if it is good enough for Israel, it's good enough for us!
That plan is ‘‘not based in reality,’’ Bush said, arguing it will require a ‘‘much better strategy than building a fence’’ to deal with the complexity of America’s broken system.
That's funny, because.... (see article and analysis directly above)
‘‘If he’s interested in a comprehensive approach, he might want to read my book,’’ Bush said.
Then again, he might not! I don't!
Trump took his 2016 Republican campaign to the Mexican border in July to highlight what he considers a broken border-security system. Appearing on ‘‘Fox & Friends’’ earlier Monday, he said of Bush, ‘‘I think it’s great that he’s going to the border because I think he’ll now find out that it is not an act of love.’’
That was a jab at Bush’s comment before he joined the race that people come to the United States out of love for their families and the wish to give them a better life.
‘‘I was down on the border,’’ Trump said. ‘‘It’s rough, tough stuff. This is not love.’’
Bush told reporters at the Palenque Grill restaurant that Trump’s immigration plan would cost billions of dollars, violate civil liberties, and ‘‘create friction’’ with Mexico, America’s third-largest trading partner.
Related: Jeb Bush Would Bring Back Torture
Who is complaining about violating civil liberties?
Now get back to work!
He said border security extends beyond the land border with Mexico, noting that at least 40 percent of the illegal immigrants came to the United States with valid visas. The federal government should vastly improve how it tracks the entry and exit of millions of foreign visitors, he said.
He did call for more NSA spying powers.
Bush also said most of those illegally crossing the US-Mexico border are Hondurans, Guatemalans, and Salvadorans.
Reporters peppered Bush with questions about his use of the term ‘‘anchor babies’’ to describe children born in the United States to parents who are in the country illegally. Some find the term offensive.
The campaign, like all Bush campaigns, has a tinge of racism.
Bush said he was referring to alleged fraud by families seeking to have their children born in the states to guarantee citizenship. He said stricter enforcement of immigration laws would help resolve the problem and he repeated his opposition to any move to deny citizenship to those born in America.
He said it was ‘‘ludicrous’’ to think he was being derogatory toward immigrants given his own family’s Hispanic heritage.
‘‘I’m proud to be married to a Mexican-American woman, and I have children who are Hispanic,’’ he said in Spanish as the crowd applauded.
In a separate development, Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz is urging the nation’s pastors to mobilize their congregations in a push to defund Planned Parenthood.
In an e-mail sent to 100,000 evangelical pastors over the weekend, the Texas senator cites what he calls ‘‘Planned Parenthood’s barbaric practices of harvesting the body parts of innocent babies and selling them to the highest bidder.’’
Planned Parenthood says many women donate their aborted fetuses and the money it collects from researchers only covers costs.
I didn't plan on them lying about it, too.
In his e-mail and an online video, Cruz asks the pastors to join a Tuesday afternoon conference call about a defunding fight he plans to lead in the coming weeks.
--more--"
Also see: Trump to Be Assassinated?
If it comes to that, the controllers will use it. Maybe make it look like a plane crash. Could sell that. Some illegal immigrant with a gun isn't going to do it. Too lifelike.
NEXT DAY UPDATES:
"Trump vs. Univision
PENSACOLA, Fla. — Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said Wednesday he’s proud of kicking one of the country’s best-known Spanish-language journalists out of an Iowa news conference — his latest clash with the media.
Oh, that is in SUCH BAD TASTE given what happened -- or allegedly what happened -- in Virginia yesterday.
‘‘I think I handled that well. I got a lot of credit for it,’’ Trump boasted to conservative radio host Laura Ingraham a day after his bodyguards escorted Univision’s Jorge Ramos out of the event.
This spat comes as his rivals continue to grapple with how best to compete against the billionaire businessman.
At a campaign event Wednesday in Pensacola, former Florida governor Jeb Bush sighed when a member of the town hall audience uttered Trump’s name.
‘‘Do we have to talk about this guy?’’ Bush asked.
He's getting under his skin. Good. His foreign policy plans are downright f***ing frightening.
Bush went on to criticize Trump’s immigration plan, specifically his proposal to build a massive wall on the Mexican border, calling it impractical and at odds with conservative principles because of its cost.
He also criticized Trump’s clash with Ramos, saying all journalists should be treated with ‘‘dignity and respect.’’
Sucking up to the pre$$!
Ramos was ultimately allowed back into Trump’s news conference, and they quickly resumed their argument over his immigration proposals.
Oh, so he didn't really get kicked out?
Jeb Bush’s shining hours
PENSACOLA, Fla. — Jeb Bush has spent much of his campaign for president trying to prove that he’s not riding the coattails of his brother and father, two former presidents.
But perhaps nothing reflects so favorably on the latest Bush to seek the White House as the difference between how he, in stark contrast to his brother, handled the fury of nature.
In the 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons, eight hurricanes and four tropical storms hit Florida. An emergency was declared in each of the state’s 67 counties at least once, and every school district closed due to hurricanes in 2004. The 2005 storms included Hurricane Wilma, which caused $20.6 billion in damages. After the disasters, Bush’s approval ratings were never higher.
“You learn these things by experience,” Bush said Wednesday in Pensacola, one of the communities that suffered the most damage during the period. “You don’t talk about things on the sidelines.”
Clinton Trumps Bush in the Globe's coverage.
"Advocates rally at State House to condemn Trump remarks" by Travis Andersen Globe Staff August 27, 2015
More than 70 people gathered outside the State House Wednesday night to voice support for immigrants and to condemn presidential candidate Donald Trump’s remarks about Mexicans, which allegedly were cited by a man accused of beating a Mexican national in Dorchester last week.
(Blog editor snorts at the obvious agenda-pushing quality of this report. Not even six dozen people, but Globe is there to cover it and with lots of print)
As passing drivers honked their vehicles’ horns in solidarity, the advocates formed a circle and placed dozens of candles in the center, as well as signs with pro-immigrant messages such as, “We are Immigrants and we are Peaceful People.”
The agenda-pushing pre$$ loves the protests of gays, global-warmers, illegal immigrants, and any other coup-attempting, destabilization effort. Doesn't like Occupy or antiwar folk. What does that tell you?
There were also prayers, a reading from the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s writings, and passionate speeches from activists, including Patricia Montes, executive director of Centro Presente, an immigrant-rights group that organized the vigil.
Take a moment to see for yourself.
“A week ago, a Mexican immigrant was beaten by two white men as a result of the hateful, anti-immigrant rhetoric of Donald Trump,” Montes told the crowd.
They were drunk guys on their way home from the Red Sox game (and angry about Orsillo, from what I've read).
She added that the activists were coming together Wednesday to “reject . . . the anti-immigrant rhetoric [being used] for cynical political ends.”
Wednesday’s event came a week after two South Boston brothers, Scott and Steve Leader, allegedly ambushed a 58-year-old homeless Mexican immigrant as he slept outside the JFK/UMass MBTA stop.
The brothers are accused of punching the man, urinating on his face, and beating him with a metal pole.
The incident drew widespread condemnation from officials, including Mayor Martin J. Walsh and Police Commissioner William B. Evans, as well as the Mexican government.
Scott Leader, who, like his brother, has a lengthy criminal history, allegedly told State Police that “Donald Trump was right, all these illegals need to be deported.”
Leader was apparently referring to remarks that Trump, the current Republican front-runner for the presidential nomination, made during his campaign kickoff speech, alarming immigrant advocates, who feared a violent backlash.
Mexican immigrants, Trump asserted during the June speech, are “bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”
A spokeswoman for the Trump campaign declined to comment Wednesday, except to say in an e-mail that “Mr. Trump condemned this horrible incident last week.”
Initially, when asked last week about the alleged attack, Trump vexed many political observers when he responded, “it would be a shame. . . . I will say that people who are following me are very passionate.”
Two days later, Trump offered a more critical response on Twitter, writing that the “Boston incident is terrible. We need energy and passion, but we must treat each other with respect. I would never condone violence.”
The antiwar candidate?
During the State House rally Wednesday, advocates insisted that Trump bears some responsibility for the Leader brothers’ alleged rampage. The siblings are being held on several criminal charges in connection with the incident.
That is such a slippery slope!
“The outrageous attack, an attack on a defenseless immigrant homeless man, was a hate crime that Mr. Trump must take some responsibility for inspiring,” said Samuel Hurtado of the advocacy group South Boston en Acción.
Aren't all crimes hate crimes (except the loving looting of Wall Street and war profiteers, of course)?
It's POLITICAL CORRECTNESS RUN AMOK so that FREE SPEECH can be CENSORED under the banner of TOLERATION!
The whole "debate" -- brought to you by a $upremaci$t and elite media -- has reached the point of unclothed absurdity.
Another speaker, Victor Hugo Arellano, a Centro Presente board member and a Mexican immigrant, said the alleged attack left him feeling “anger, I felt disgust.”
“I’m here to speak out against the hateful and extremist words of presidential candidate Donald Trump,” he said.
That's why I started this blog, to try and end the wars. How foolish is I.
However, Trump, who is scheduled to visit Massachusetts for a fund-raiser Friday, was not the only person who came under criticism at Wednesday’s vigil.
You know, TAKE CARE, Don. I hope your SECURITY is TRUSTWORTHY and TOP NOTCH. Don't need anything happening to you or any other candidate, especially on live TV, 'eh?
The advocates also faulted the Obama administration for rolling out a controversial immigrant- detention program called Secure Communities and for deporting a significant number of undocumented immigrants without criminal records.
Biting the hand that frees them!
In addition, vigil organizers urged the crowd to press for passage of a bill pending in the state Legislature that would limit the reach of the detention program throughout Massachusetts.
Aren't we enough of a sanctuary state as it is?
The event concluded with a prayer from the Rev. Michelle Walsh, a Unitarian Universalist minister who teaches at Boston University.
“We are all destroyed when the humanity of any one of us is denied,” Walsh said.
Unless they are Palestinian. Then no one seems to give a hoot in my propaganda pre$$, and I just can't imagine why.
--more--"
UPDATE:
"A Guatemalan man pleaded guilty to charges related to an operation that took immigrant teen boys from US custody and put them to work as virtual slaves on Ohio egg farms. Federal prosecutors said Arodolo Rigoberto Castillo-Serrano was behind a scheme that involved filing false paperwork to claim the teens from federal custody after they crossed the border. They said he was in the United States illegally for much of the past decade. He pleaded guilty to charges of forced labor, witness tampering, and encouraging illegal entry into the country. He will be sentenced later. Prosecutors said at least eight teens and two young men were forced to work at farms and live in dilapidated trailers."
I'm sure it's all Trump's fault, same reason the cars won't get started (in case you missed it).
