Posted on 03/24/2016 3:24:11 PM PDT by Steelfish
Welcome to Our Post-Literate Political Culture
By Ian Tuttle March 24, 2016
Donald Trump’s decision not only to threaten Ted Cruz’s wife but, now, to double down and mock her is the most loathsome moment yet in a campaign characterized by vulgarity and bullying. About Trump’s penchant for bullying I wrote yesterday.
But about his misogyny, an additional thought. The caption to Trump’s repulsive retweet reads A picture is worth 1000 words, which is generally a stupid thing people say to excuse themselves from the hard work of plumbing their mind for words. In reality, the pictures of Mrs. Trump and Mrs. Cruz reveal nothing.
But, naturally, Trump thinks they do, because Trump works almost exclusively in the realm of images.
Consider Trump’s liberal use of the word “beautiful.” His wife is beautiful, and his daughter. But so are his hotels. So are “American tax dollars,” Trump campaign t-shirts, and standing ovations. So are his websites, and the door he’s going to build into the wall (also “beautiful”) that he is going to erect between the U.S. and Mexico. So is air.
None of those things is beautiful (and describing tax dollars as beautiful is borderline certifiable). But Trump calls them beautiful, because he’s all about appearances. The determinative factor is how things look. It’s the category in which he thinks. As he told Esquire in 1991: “You know, it doesn’t really matter what [the media] write, as long as you’ve got a young and beautiful piece of ass.” (snip)
It doesn’t matter as long as everyone sees that you’ve got a young and beautiful “piece of ass.” Trump does not care about actual elegance, class, or beauty, which require cultivation to be able to discern. (His various construction projects are evidence enough of this. The Taj Mahal is beautiful.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...
I was pushing Cruz from the time Walker embraced amnesty until he hired Neil Bush and refused to walk back his statement on the Chicago riot.
The emperor has no clothes.
I am suppose to give this a serious read when he says, piece of ass? Who is really the classless one here? Give me a break. People only wish they had a beautiful, smart woman as Donald.
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He is using Trump’s own language, perhaps you never heard about his leaks to the NY tabloids about his first wife’s implants and how the didn’t feel natural unlike his GF tits? This before he divorced his first wife.
The man is a pig.
And you would win the be Jim. As a woman, you damn well better believe I’d want my husband to defend me against such slimy Ted tactics.
I’ve just caught up from the last couple days and oh man, the Cruziers are in a tizzy, can’t distance him fast enough from little Liz’s super pac. If Teddy has made any comment to the effect that he finds this tactic just wrong headed, please direct me to it so I can read it for myself. I haven’t come across as of yet. Thanks
I probably said some bad things too in 1991... I care about policies and the direction of the country though.. For some reason that seems more important..
Oh, I don't know. What can you say about someone who absolutely, positively, without question KNOWS you can't settle a "mine is bigger than yours" on FR, but for some reason feels compelled to throw it out there, anyway?
Siwezi kusema kiswahili!
Evidence of the pathetic state of our post-literate, dumbed-down culture can be found in the latest Amazon.com bestseller list — where 61 of the top 100 books are either children’s books, coloring books, or cook books. Words have become so...yesterday.
Even Oprah’s bookclub selections, which used to be top sellers, have been displaced by perennial favorites such as ‘’Go the F**k to Sleep,’’ ‘’Calm the F**k Down,’’ and ‘’Potty.’’
Is it any wonder that a vulgarian like Donald Trump and an old woman like Hillary Clinton who can barely deliver a coherent speech have captured the public’s imagination and are heading for their parties’ presidential nominations?
What will happen when the minority of Americans who are intelligent enough to read and hold jobs decide to Get the F**k Out of Here, instead of living among imbeciles under the regimes of Hillary or Donald Trump?
Well, how did the refined and 100% non-vulgar Mitt make out last time? Despite scrupulously insulting no one, including his opponent, he lost the female vote 54-46, as I recall. after being painted as a misogynist for promising to hire loads of women into his administration.
This election will be about whether the nominee can turn out a record number of male voters. My bet is Trump can turn out a heck of a lot more of them than Senator Cruz can. You might also notice that all the Little Lord Fauntleroy types (starting with Bush) were knocked out in the first round.
My goodness. So even Rush L is wrong when he says Cruz is the ONLY true conservative in the race? Can you have Trump call the NYTimes and have them please unseal those tapes about what he told their Editorial Board behind closed doors about the sincerity of his deportation plans? You Trumkins will twist yourself into a pretzel to defend this scam artist even against the indefensible.
It’s not as if any of the other Republicans had a chance anyway. There’s nothing to lose by going with Trump.
I will say I’m offended as most of you when I read the article and saw the comment “piece of ass”.
I then went back and read the Esquire comment and saw how Donald used it. Its going to surprise several but I’m not offend in its context. I think if I hadn’t been watching most of Donald’s rallies I too would probably be calling him a pig.
I now have seen him use words, not just as communication but as a visual memory that tends to stay in ones mind. (Lying Ted-Little Rubio, Low energy Jeb) Its over the top humorous expressions are very powerful and they’re not only toward women.
“Sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me” I said this a lot when I was young.
...I mean, what are the odds?
Hey. Trump sez stuff that sounds good! He’s gonna build a wall and make Mexico pay for it! Other nations are gonna do what he says!
I could go on and on. But people are fooled by words and images and have short memories and selective outrage. So I will leave it at that.
Yep. More focus on real issues would be a good thing.
So how do you feel about Trump leaking to newspapers, when he was married to Ivana and having an affair with his future wife Marla Maples, that Ivana’s implants didn’t feel natural as opposed to Marla’s natural titties?
Who does that?
I agree. I will still vote Trump! Cruz was my first choice, but I am not convinced he would win either. With rampant voter fraud/Acorn, the election may have already been decided
Darn! 220+? I better go back to ditch digging...
The use of photos on this site is somewhat illustrative of this.
I am suppose to give this a serious read when he says, piece of ass? Who is really the classless one here? Give me a break. People only wish they had a beautiful, smart woman as Donald.
If illegals are a concern for you at all, you honestly cannot deny that those lining up behind Cruz are amnesty freaks on steroids. Bush? Amnesty last I checked.
Club for Growth? Amnesty last I checked.
I won’t bore you with what I hope you already know, but if you want to twist that and deny the thread that binds them, have at it.
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