As Good As He Gets

Y’all gon’ make me lose my mind
Up in here, up in here
Y’all gon’ make me go all out
Up in here, up in here
Y’all gon’ make me act a fool
Up in here, up in here
Y’all gon’ make me lose my cool
Up in here, up in here

–Party Up (Up in Here) DMX 1999

What was the ‘up-side’ of allowing Donald J. Trump to appear before the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Chicago yesterday? I’m sure his campaign thought it would be a great opportunity for him to show his wares to black voters — a demographic doesn’t do well with because of a history of saying exactly the wrong things at the wrong time almost every time he attempts it.

Apparently, his appearance on stage for a Q and A was no exception. He was unable to keep his racist mind from blurting out the very words that are guaranteed to lose votes instead of gain them.

It’s like trying to get some lovin’ from your spouse, while telling them at the same time they are ugly, stupid, and they stink like shit. Oh, and they are fat.

People keep telling me that’s what they like the most about Trump: he’s not afraid to speak what he thinks.

There is so much wrong with this line of thinking.

• This indicates the man has no filter. No self-control. He’s liable to just blurt out all sorts of damaging statements, random thoughts, opinions and fantasies that probably will not go over well with a large segment of the population.
  
• If this is his line of thinking then he’s pretty much a racist and bigot.
  
• With a person like this, you will have no idea what is fact or fantasy — because he certainly can’t tell the difference.

There are many things in life that should be left unsaid.

We all have thoughts that ‘bubble up’ in our minds on a regular basis that most of us have the wherewithal (and ability) to keep to ourselves. You and I might meet on the street some day and the first thing off the top of my head is “He’s fat”, or “She’s kinda plump”. Am I going to blurt that out to you? Of course not.

“That perfume smells like shit on you, bitch.”

“You look like you can afford to skip a few meals, bud.”

“How black are you?”

“How much makeup are you wearing, anyways?”

Most of us get thoughts like this all the time, but we don’t just blurt them out because we are “plain-speaking people”. Just the opposite, actually. In order to live in a polite and functioning society, we tend to filter our thoughts to avoid negative conflicts. If I am a merchant in a store, I’m trying to sell you a product or service, and I am not going to get very far if I insult the customers.

The same goes for campaigning for votes.

Donald Trump is selling himself for votes. He needs as many votes as he can get, because he needs to beat the other candidates vying for the same position. One would think he would have a message and demeanor tailored for the audience he is trying to reach.

Kamala Harris is also trying to sell herself for votes. She’s competing for the same office as Donald. She speaks to different groups of people in every state, and her message and demeanor is tailored for those specific audiences. If she’s talking to women whose issues are primarily reproductive rights, then she’s going to talk about what she’s going to do for them and their primary concerns. She isn’t going to be talking about border issues so much.

Donald is a one-trick pony. There is no nuance about him. He’s just going to vomit everything he has off the top of his mind and hit the audience in a barrage.

“I didn’t know she was black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn black and now she wants to be known as black.  So I don’t know – Is she Indian? Or is she black?”

Trump falsely claimed the vice-president and presumptive Democratic nominee had only emphasized her Asian-American heritage until recently when, he claimed, “she became a black person”.

Donald J. Trump, July 31, 2024
National Association of Black Journalists convention

So the audience is predominantly black. With an agenda that deals predominantly with issues important to black people. Assumably, Donald went there for the purpose of trying to win him some votes. He probably wasn’t going to win them over en toto, but a few here and a few there are more than you began with. You aren’t supposed to go campaign to LOSE votes.

What in the fuck was he thinking?

I’m sorry, but it is a question that should be asked — and answered.

Why does Donald feel the need to travel down this road? What does he think he has to gain by bringing any of this up?

“So I don’t know – Is she Indian? Or is she black?”

Does it matter, Donald? What is your point you are trying to make? Better yet, is this point important in trying to gain more votes with this particular group of people?

Or are you more than likely going to alienate them by even bringing it up?

But in case Donald needs to know her ethnic background, here’s a basic idea for you:

I suppose we could demand a DNA test so we can be more accurate, but we’d expect the same from Donald. I don’t know if any of you have taken these tests, but you’d be surprised to find out what’s buried deep in your woodpile…

I have some Neandertal in me — something that doesn’t surprise my wife at all. 😀

The point is, why does it matter? She probably has some Caucasian in her as well — would that make her white?

He’s obviously trying to insert a political wedge wherever he can, but why does he think that this one would have a positive effect for him? Will this attract more White Nationalist votes than losing black votes?

“The Survey Says… NO”

My wife has some “black in her”. She is blond, blue-eyed, mostly Norwegian who must have had some lumberjack back in her woodpile who went out on a limb. There were a few other lumberjacks in the pile because she also has some Native American, and most of Europe in her. She could claim any one of them, and she wouldn’t be wrong.

It just never occurred to her to claim the tiny bit of ‘blackness’ to gain an advantage that she already had by looking about as white as possible without being translucent. Doors already open for her no matter what her circumstance. So it would be ridiculous for her to make any such claim.

She doesn’t, and never has.

Kamala Harris on the other hand has an Indian mother and a Jamaican father. She could claim either, neither, or both — at her choosing — and be completely accurate and within her rights. If her ethnicity is a barrier from getting a leg up, then she is going to take advantage of any lift she can get.

[If you need me to explain why there is/was a need for these *advantages*, then that’s for a much longer discussion, that will involve a lot of beration, beating, scratching, clawing, biting, and hair-pulling not suitable for children and most civilized adults. ]

If she becomes president, she will be on a lot of new “First” lists. The first woman being the most obvious. The ‘glass ceiling’ is finally broken by a person of color, whose background includes both India and Jamaica and whatever other background from there. Who knows, maybe she will volunteer a DNA test to satisfy Donald Trump’s curiosity if it is that fucking important to him.

This has been Donald Trump since he first entered the political world. It has always been his first point of division. Race and ethnicity. Don’t believe me, there are news stories dating back to the 1970s about Fred Trump Sr and Donald J. Trump. It has always been a part of him, and always will be there. He’s literally days away from entering his ninth century on this realm, it’s a hard foundation to disregard.

This is Donald J. Trump. Maybe you want to either approve or ignore it — that’s up to you. Maybe your personal agenda is more important than this man’s foundational pillar and that might be something you might want to think about a bit more.

You are who you hang with.

‘Birds of a feather’. We all get categorized. This is what happens when you use division politics. It often backfires on the practitioner.

Will Donald weather this storm? Sure. His racism and bigotry is already baked into who he is. His supporters have pretty much whitelisted these things “for the greater cause”. Besides, “Make America Great Again” refers back to the time before JFK “stole” the election from Richard Nixon in 1960, which ushered in civil “rights” and equal “rights” for the ‘colored’.

That’s what we are working with here. He actually wrote about it in his book if anyone had bothered to read it.

Moving on…

** US – RUSSIA PRISONER SWAP **

U.S., Russia prisoner swap secures release of Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan and others

After a historically complex, monthslong negotiation involving more than six countries and two dozen prisoners, the Biden administration on Thursday announced it had secured the release of three American citizens from Russia, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, Marine veteran Paul Whelan and Russian-American radio journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, all of whom are expected to arrive on American soil by nightfall. 

The three will return to the United States as part of a 24-person prisoner swap — one of the largest since the end of the Cold War — among the U.S., Russia, Germany and three other Western countries. 

The deal is a significant and hard-fought win for the Biden administration, which has secured the release of more than 60 hostages or wrongful detainees from around the world over the past three years. Few cases have received a similar level of prominence or scrutiny as the ones in Russia, a longstanding geopolitical rival of the U.S. with a history of taking — and trading — foreign detainees. 

“All have endured unimaginable suffering and uncertainty. Today, their agony is over,” President Biden said in a statement.  

That happened today.

This seems to be slowing down a bit:

Once you get past the get-up, the weapon, and all that imagery, you THEN notice what’s going on in the background…