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William Burke's avatar

Bill, I applaud your honesty, courage, and strength in overcoming whatever it was you had to overcome. You might’ve been crazy for 15 years but I’m quite confident you were never ever batshit crazy. Well done.👍

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Diane’s Blue Forum's avatar

Bill, spot on. I cannot fathom why Republicans are so silent especially Catholic Republicans—Cardinal Dolan’s comment was lukewarm not outraged. It’s a sign of degradation in churches and government.

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Dave Conant - MO's avatar

Dolan is a Trumpista and part of Sleepy Don's religious advisory group so it makes sense that he would give lip service to his presumed faith while not overtly criticizing his boss.

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Diane’s Blue Forum's avatar

I’ve thought that for some time. It’s almost like Dolan seeks popularity and money for private schools.

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Dave Conant - MO's avatar

That certainly part of it. The Catholic clergy, especially those in administrative positions, have long been more oriented toward the Vatican as an independent political entity than as the Seat of St. Peter. For the most part, they've been Democrats, but all this business of helping the poor, loving your neighbor, and treating everyone as equal creations of God may have gotten a little old and boring.

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Ilona Goanos's avatar

The Catholics who support t-Rump are hypocrites. The moment the orange felon mocked that disabled reporter was when they knew exactly what they were voting for. For them now to be upset about his AI image is ridiculous.

I also believe this country has unaddressed mental health issues that partially explain why the current lunacy proliferates. As long as we stigmatize getting help for mental health, the worse it's going to get here.

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Deb Schnackenberg's avatar

There has been no doubt in my mind that this critter we call president has been mentally deteriorating for a few years, at the very least...Not that there is much up there to begin with...(The undiagnosed learning disability his niece Mary has spoken of; the school and business failures all his adult life).

Our collective failure to confront this batshit crazy fool has been difficult with a populace similarly suspicious of reason, education and nuance and enamored of spectacle and showmanship..

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Bill Alstrom (MA/Maine/MA)'s avatar

The decline is becoming more and more evident. It is gaining speed. Something we have noticed about dementia: the person shows more and more confusion and inability to form meaningful sentences. And...often gets angry when challenged.

The Batshit president has always displayed incoherence and a short fuse. But it is clearly getting worse. At some point, they will need to bring in a physician...

In short, the guy "is losing it". And he has the nuclear codes.

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Rickey Woody's avatar

right on target - batshit crazy

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Bob Morgan's avatar

Great explanation, Bill! I always love to hear about the derivation of metaphors and such.

Howsomever, I have a feeling that his crazy is calculated. He's gaslighting us at every turn, and throwing so much batshit on the floor that we can't figure out where to step. His evilness is peerless. He projects, and then performs, accusing others of bad behavior (usually wrongly) to normalize it, and then mimics that bad behavior. On top of that, he's forcing many people and organizations to engage expensive legal services, while he enjoys the services of his captive agencies and Supreme Court, as well as the concessions he's extorted from biglaw to provide pro bono services to support his causes.

I think his crazy is rooted more in his feral instincts than intelligence. He may be a bit smarter than I give him credit for, but I have my doubts.

I'm hoping he steps on a landmine soon. I've been disappointed that his Musk bromance hasn't blown up, or that he hasn't pissed off somebody who has the goods on him (like Putin, likely). The more fronts he opens up, though, the greater the likelihood that he'll misstep. I'm rooting for that.

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Bill Alstrom (MA/Maine/MA)'s avatar

"The more fronts he opens up, though, the greater the likelihood that he'll misstep."

Yes. And hasn't that been the demise of EVERY autocrat, dictator or king? The pain of his wild ass tariffs and the random shedding of government staff have yet to be felt on anywhere near the scale that they will. There are freight trains of payback on the tracks.

I see an approval rating of barely 30% within six months.

There is also the what I call the "silent angry ones" who don't dare cross him now. But who have been humiliated, subjugated and financially hurt - careers damaged. Peer pressure and fear of greater retribution keeps them silent for now. But when this shitty ship turns, watch out.

Suddenly, the Batshit President will be standing relatively alone. He'll have Bannon, Miller and a few other Neo-Nazis. But I see this whacko climbing on a last plane to Mar a Lago when someone like the ghost of Goldwater walks into his office and says: "Sir, you don't have the votes to survive this."

I believe in creative visualization. Let's make it so.

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Dave Conant - MO's avatar

I appreciate you surviving 15 years, for me it was 20. Today's piece is firm evidence of your recovery and, indeed, substantial advancement. Along with the Felon47 as Pope picture, we need to preserve the image of Sleepy Don at the Papal funeral. If enough of us call them out, even the most rabid MAGA faithful will have to choose between religions. Someone once commented on the impossibility of serving two masters and only one of the two they're trying to obey has the keys to eternal life and the ability to make the final Judgement.

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Fay Reid's avatar

I wish I knew the answer Bill. All I can say is I'm sorry that sniper didn't have better aim, he could have saved the US a lot of trouble.

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