Wednesday, May 01, 2024

Interesting Times

I know tout le internet insists that if only the MSM would report Trump as he really is, the nation as one would rise up in righteous wroth and smite the foul varlet.

As if.

No, this isn’t about that.  This is about the NYT feeling the bite of internet criticism about what AG said. Or maybe about the reality of Trump’s possible second term.

Nah; it the first one.
Or it could be the shout-out Biden gave to NYT Pitchbot. What is clear is Ms. Haberman is trying to shed her reputation as Trump’s fluffer as he starts facing real consequences for his actions. My purpose for starting this post. Let’s look at a few excerpts from the interview:
You have vowed to launch the largest deportation operation in American history. Your advisors say that includes— 
Trump: Because we have no choice. I don't believe this is sustainable for a country, what's happening to us, with probably 15 million and maybe as many as 20 million by the time Biden's out. Twenty million people, many of them from jails, many of them from prisons, many of them from mental institutions. I mean, you see what's going on in Venezuela and other countries. They're becoming a lot safer. [This claim, BTW, is absolute bullshit.] 
… 
Would that include building new migrant detention camps? 
Trump: We wouldn't have to do very much of that. Because we'll be bringing them out of the country. We're not leaving them in the country. We're bringing them out. It’s been done before. 
Will you build new ones? 
Trump: And it was done by Obama in a form of jails, you know, prisons. And I got blamed for that for four months. And then people realized that was done by him, not by me. 
So are you ruling out that you would build new migrant detention camps? 
Trump: No, I would not rule out anything. But there wouldn't be that much of a need for them, because of the fact that we're going to be moving them out. We're going to bring them back from where they came. 
I ask because your close aide and adviser Stephen Miller said that part of what it would take to carry out this deportation operation would include new migrant detention camps. 
Trump: It’s possible that we’ll do it to an extent but we shouldn't have to do very much of it, because we're going to be moving them out as soon as we get to it. And we'll be obviously starting with the criminal element. And we're going to be using local police because local police know them by name, by first name, second name, and third name. I mean, they know them very well.
To cut to the chase, he promises to remove 20 million people without using any detention facilities. One wonders what color the sky is on his planet.
Well, let me put it this way: They’re new and they're certainly going to be tested in the courts. If the courts rule against you, do you commit to complying with all court orders upheld by the Supreme Court? 
Trump: I will be complying with court orders. And I'll be doing everything on a very legal basis, just as I built the wall. You know, I built a tremendous wall, which gave us great numbers. I also was willing to do far more than I said I was going to do. I was also and am willing to—they should have completed the wall. I completed what I said I was going to do, much more than I said I was going to do. But as you do it, you realize you need more wall in different locations, locations that, at one point, people thought you wouldn't be able to—you wouldn't need. But, and—the first glimpse I found that Biden, frankly, wanted open borders, because I never believed it. It just didn't make sense. The first time I really saw that was when he didn't want to install the wall that was already built and could have been thrown up, hundreds of miles of additional work could have been thrown up in a period of three weeks.
Yeah, I wanna see this guy debate Biden. Because it just gets worse:
So my question is, what do you plan to do in the second term? Are you going to move right away on day one to direct federal funds to continue building the wall? Are you going to aim for legislation? How do you plan to do? 
Trump: I think what we will do is we will complete—and when you say and when I say complete the wall, I built much more wall than I ever thought necessary. But as you build it, you find out that you need it. And we built it, and there were certain areas then you find out that are leaking and they leak. Like a politician leaks, they leak. And we would get that and we would build that and then you build something else. And it was just a system, we had a great system going. And we could have added another 200 miles of wall and good territory for it. Because it really does work, you know, walls work. Walls and wheels. I would say, you know, a lot of, see what you have here, your tape recorder, everything else is going to be obsolete in about six months. You'll have something that's much better. But the two things that are never obsolete are walls and wheels.
Before you ask, yes: he learned a lot from his first term:
Something you said a moment ago. You said, “We want to protect police from prosecution.” What do you mean by that? 
Trump: Police have been—their authority has been taken away. If something happens with them, even if they're doing a very good job, they take away their house, they take away their pension, they take away their, I mean, essentially, they end up losing their families over it. They take away everything. They prosecute people. And we have to give the police back the power and respect that they deserve. Now, there will be some mistakes, and there are certain bad people and that's a terrible thing. But there are far more problems with what's happened now, where police are standing outside of a department store as it’s being robbed and 500 mostly young people are walking out carrying air conditioners and televisions and everything else. And the police would like to do something about it. But they're told to stand down. They said don't do it. And if you do anything about it, if you stop crime, we're going to go after your pension, your home, your family, your wife or your husband. And you know, police are being prosecuted all the time. And we want to give them immunity from prosecution if they're doing their job. 
Would you try to pass a law for that through Congress? 
Trump: Excuse me. 
Would you push a bill through Congress to do that? 
Trump: We’d have to take a look at that.
It’s mostly the same drivel Trump spouts on FoxNews or at the courthouse twice a day. But then he completely lost the thread:
Well, would you definitely retire after a second term, or would you consider challenging the 22nd amendment? 
Trump: Well, I would, and I don't really have a choice, but I would. 
You would consider it? 
Trump: I’m at a point where I would, I think, you know, I would do that. Look, it’s two terms. I had two elections. I did much better on the second one than I did the first. I got millions more votes. I was treated very unfairly. They used COVID to cheat and lots of other things to cheat. But I was treated very unfairly. But no, I'm going to serve one term, I'm gonna do a great job. We're gonna have a very successful country again— 
But you’d consider it? 
Trump: And then I'm gonna leave. 
You’d consider it, you said. 
Trump: Consider what? 
Challenging the 22nd amendment. 
Trump: I don't know anything about it. I mean, you're telling me now that somebody's looking to terminate. I wouldn't be in favor of it. I wouldn't be in favor of a challenge. Not for me. I wouldn't be in favor of it at all. I intend to serve four years and do a great job. And I want to bring our country back. I want to put it back on the right track. Our country is going down. We're a failing nation right now. We're a nation in turmoil.
He really sundowns in the end:
Trump: I will say this, let me just say this. Everybody wants to work for me. And a lot of people say, “Oh, would he work for me? Oh, would he be a Vice President? Would he accept?” Vice President? I’ve got everybody in the nation calling me begging me to be vice president. I have everybody calling me wanting to be in the cabinet. Everybody wants to work for me. Everybody. And the practice of saying, “General, give me a letter” or “somebody give me a letter,” that's a nice thing to do. I don't think I'll do it anymore. But that's a nice thing to do. But everybody wants to work for me. We're gonna have a very successful administration. And the advantage I have now is I know everybody. I know people. I know the good, the bad, the stupid, the smart. I know everybody. When I first got to Washington, I knew very few people. I had to rely on people. And some of those people gave me very good advice.
Sort of like today: Or at court today: Authentic frontier gibberish.

Why did Trump do it? The TIME interview, I mean. Ms. Haberman is the expert:

And NYT seems to have decided after 8 years that they should appear objective. Or maybe Trump really is getting stupider.

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