Donald Trump was just miles away from my home today. Ostensibly, he was here in Ypsilanti to talk with Ford Motor Company employees about their efforts to produce ventilators in response to the COVID-19 crisis, but the event had almost all the earmarks of a Trump campaign rally. [Trump hasn’t been able to hold rallies over the past few months due to the pandemic, so he’s been getting more creative.] I’d rather not dwell on it too long, but here are three things that I found of interest.
1. Donald Trump, while inside the Ford plant, refused to keep his mask on, in violation of company policy, as you can see in the following video. According to reporting, Bill Ford personally requested that Trump wear a mask, and the president put one on for a moment, only to remove it shortly afterward. According to CBS News White House correspondent Weijia Jiang, Ford officials were caught off-guard when Trump removed his mask. “The expectation was that he would keep it on for the entire visit, and officials were surprised when he took it off,” said Jiang. “Trump said he was given a ‘choice,’ but no one from Ford said that.” This, of course, comes just one day after Ford announced the closure of two plants because workers were testing positive for COVID-19, and not long after news broke about several White House employees testing positive for the deadly disease. Here’s Donald Trump being asked why he didn’t care enough about worker safety to wear a mask?
BREAKING: Trump claims he wore a mask at Ford facility but won’t wear in front of press because “I didn’t wanna give the press the pleasure of seeing it.” Ridiculous. #MakeTrumpWearAMask pic.twitter.com/LxwDwDZPEq
— Scott Dworkin (@funder) May 21, 2020
[Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel called the President’s actions, incredibly disrespectful.” She went on to say, “Anyone who has potentially been recently exposed, including the president of the United States, has not only a legal responsibility, but also a social and moral responsibility, to take reasonable precautions to prevent further spread of the virus.”]
2. Donald Trump told those in attendance that, years ago, he’d received a “Man of the Year” award in Michigan. There is, of course, no evidence of this ever having happened. In the whole scheme of things it’s a really small lie… and no one died as a result of Donald Trump having said it… but, as it speaks to his pathology as a sociopathic narcissist, I thought I’d at least mention it. [#JohnBarron]
What does it say that Trump doesn't just say things that aren't true,but says them AGAIN and AGAIN, even after it's REPEATEDLY pointed out that they're NOT true? Many examples, like "Man of the Year." My fave: the Flu Pandemic of 1918. Which Trump keeps saying took place in 1917. https://t.co/pEcx4NC0PL
— Peter Elkind (@peterelkind) May 21, 2020
3. Donald Trump, a known believer in the theory of eugenics, praised the “good bloodlines” of Henry Ford, the industrialist credited with disseminating the antisemitic text, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, throughout America in the 1920s, and opposing our country’s entry into World War II, blaming the conflict on “international bankers,” by which, of course, he meant the Jews. [Ford, by the way, has the distinction of being the only American noted by name in Hitler’s autobiography, “Mein Kampf.”] I’ve heard it suggested by Trump’s supporters that, when he said “good bloodlines,” Trump was just trying to acknowledge that the auto company had stayed in the hands of the Ford family since its founding. And I suspect that’s the case, and that he wasn’t trying to argue that Henry Ford was some kind of Aryan superman. But how fucking stupid do you have to be to bring up the “good bloodlines” of a known racist who was once given the the Grand Cross of the German Eagle by the Nazis? That’s just not something that a competent leader does. [If I had more time, I’d be scouring the archives of Ford’s notoriously antisemitic, conspiracy theory-filled Dearborn Independent tonight, looking for use of the word “bloodlines”.]
The President says the founder of Ford has good bloodlines.. If you’re not familiar with Henry Ford, I would encourage you to read more about him and specifically his actions during WW2 pic.twitter.com/vniaOSR2sX
— Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) May 21, 2020
38 Comments
While this big baby was acting out at Fords, Gretchen did an awesome video promo showing how grown ups get covid tested. And she didn’t whine one bit.
And it has always amazed me what Ford got away with up to and through the war and was never stigmatized into rebranding. Says a lot.
“Good bloodlines, good bloodlines. If you believe in that stuff — you got good blood.”
Clearly Trump believes in good bloodlines. He mentions his own all the time. Biological determinist president.
Racist dirtbag.
I’m less excited about Biden daily as he seems to just not be campaigning at all. Did someone tell him that’s a good idea. I like Amy Klobuchar ok, but damn that’s uninspired.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/18/opinion/trump-republicans-racism.html
It feels like the perfect moment to remind @dananessel and @JocelynBenson how grateful I am for their dedication and hard work, and how proud I am to serve our state with them. These women from Michigan are the best of the best!
Aloha, heard some body from the Trump administration actually say a true statement, and actually were honest about the Leaders policy.
“The virus is here until we get a vaccine or a cure.” So get over it and get back to work.
Thank you herr Leader for allowing this boomer broom to become a regular part of our lives from now on. We will remember herr Trump every time one of our loved ones succumb to the Trump virus, after all it is just like the flue.
Jean. I’m not sure campaigning is what Biden needs to do. He has this thing won right now if he can just not open his mouth too much. Hillary will raise money for him from her evil fortress. Obama will raise the roof for him with his various pockets of support. Bernie is playing hardball with his supporters to back Joe. He needs smile and wave. Give a good convention speech. Avoid debates and free association in front of a microphone.
Oh that’s funny. He can win this if he stays in the basement and avoids talking. Meanwhile Trump will be holding rallies, the virus will be gone, and the economy will be rocking.
Pretty wild to hear actual eugenicists in the mold of Margaret Sanger (admired by Hitler) accuse the President of being one too.
HW, who are these “actual eugenicists” of whom you speak?
People who support Planned Parenthood/abortion.
Shouldn’t that be obvious given the context? Do you understand this shit at all?
Do you see what we have to deal with here, anonymous? Bullshit about how Planned Parenthood are like Nazis and the whole thing is just eugenics in action. *rolls eyes* If you try to argue with HW, he will spew even more BS and then declare that he has won the argument.
Seriously arguments with HW go like this:
HW: “The blueberries in winter are Nazis and the cucumber sails the Trump in the Q way”
Person: “That doesn’t make any sense”
HW: That is because you don’t understand my superior intellect or facts or logic?
hahahaha. At least it is entertaining.
Lets be very clear though about HW and the abortion debate. He doesn’t give a shit about things like eugenics as evidenced by his support of Donald Trump. He only uses Sanger because she was really a racist who believed in eugenics as many did at the time. That had nothing to do with her founding of Planned Parenthood but even if it did, the Planned Parenthood organization of today has absolutely nothing to do with that. I suspect that he is going down this eugenics route because so many so called “pro-life” people have been exposed in their response to this virus as not really caring about life.
That, of course, is no surprise to me. I have known all along that the anti-abortion people don’t really care about life. Nor do they care about eugenics because if they did, they might speak up about our president rounding brown people up and putting them in detention centers but they not only do not, they support it! No, the anti-abortion position is about subjugating women and making them legally second class citizens. It is about male control of female bodies.
HW is closer to Hitler than the people he accuses of that. Also he believes almost any conspiracy theory placed in front of him. There is no need ever to take anything he says seriously.
I want to support you Lynne, honestly. Especially when you nail HW. But as usual you are just off the rails and over the top with your “everything is 100% about the subjugation of women.” There are millions of Americans, lots of them female and even educated, who oppose abortion. They don’t see it the way you or I do and they never will. I do not support overturning Roe or doing anything except increasing funding of Planned Parenthood but the way you frame it is stupid and wrong.
Bob, yes. There are women for whom the abortion debate is actually about reducing abortions. Those women tend to support the actions of Planned Parenthood because Planned Parenthood provides forms of birth control that actually work and thus reduce abortions. Often those sorts work very hard to provide support and help to pregnant women in order to give them more options than just abortion. They don’t advocate for an overturning of Roe.
There are also women for whom the issue is absolutely about subjugating women and making them second class citizens. Women often support patriarchy. Liberal men too as you like to demonstrate frequently.
Here is the thing. There is no way to make abortion illegal without applying a different standard of medical privacy and control to women as we apply to men. Therefore, anyone who advocates making abortion illegal is advocating that women be legally second class citizens without the same rights as men to determine their own medical need for their own bodies.
BOB, another litmus test is to ask a pro-life person if they would support forcing men to have vasectomies in order to prevent abortions. Since it is the norm for us to treat men’s bodies in a way where forced medical procedures are not ok, most will say that such a policy is not acceptable. Yet they are perfectly willing to force pregnancy on women which actually is a bigger health risk and much more painful than a vasectomy. The differences in attitudes towards forcing a man to do something with his body to prevent abortion and forcing a woman to do something with her body to prevent abortion is straight-up sexism.
So basically you just argued against your own earlier argument. For the record I personally got a vasectomy after our kids were born to relieve my wife of the burden of doing similar. I also did volunteer work for several months at a well established female centric medical service center in Ypsilanti and have close friends who are employed by PP for years. A cause we have donated our time and money to.
But you and Jean will still call me a misogynist, white male pig at some point later in the week for suggesting corporate flunkies like HRC and Pelosi are not what we need running our government. Because they are women and therefore above criticism.
Yes Bob, you do sometimes display sexism in your responses here. I think the way you are so much more accepting of Biden than you have been about HRC or Pelosi is a sign of that fwiw. Yet so many people think that if they are liberal, it means that they can’t be sexist. or racist. Even though both of those things are certainly present in the hearts and minds of many liberals.
Getting a vasectomy is not the same thing as being forced to get one, FWIW just like having a baby is not the same thing as being forced to have one. Also sexism is a spectrum. It is good that you aren’t on a point of the spectrum where you would determine that your wife need be entirely responsible for birth control but that doesn’t mean that you are free from bias. Me either if it makes you feel better. I have lived my entire life in the same patriarchal society as everyone else and it has absolutely left me with biases. I get called out too but usually by women.
President Trump Participates in a Listening Session with African-American Leaders
The White House
Ypsilanti, MI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JEKI24Ot7I
“Seriously arguments with HW go like this:
HW: “The blueberries in winter are Nazis and the cucumber sails the Trump in the Q way”
Person: “That doesn’t make any sense”
HW: That is because you don’t understand my superior intellect or facts or logic?”
Pure garbage. You must stink you put out so much of it. I went into great detail a long time ago about Sanger/PP and eugenics with primary references. You didn’t have one thing to go against it but irrelevant rants.
“Seriously arguments with HW go like this:
HW: “The blueberries in winter are Nazis and the cucumber sails the Trump in the Q way”
Person: “That doesn’t make any sense”
HW: That is because you don’t understand my superior intellect or facts or logic?”
Pure garbage. You must stink you put out so much of it. I went into great detail a long time ago about Sanger/PP and eugenics with primary references. You didn’t have one thing to go against it but irrelevant rants.
Aloha, “What have you got to lose”, the most famous quote of our Leader as he drives our country into a ditch we may never get out of.
“Those given chloroquine had a 37 percent increased risk of death and a 256 percent increased risk of serious heart arrhythmias. For those taking chloroquine and an antibiotic, there was a 37 percent increased risk of death and a 301 percent increased risk of serious heart arrhythmias.”
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31180-6/fulltext?fbclid=IwAR0ofxnYXJKs4wcWj1-SvDkVuj_6YTLycSYK4Qk3YCUwUBlM3JRngyGH1cI
‘For the record I personally got a vasectomy after our kids were born to relieve my wife of the burden of doing similar.‘
Bob would like credit for doing something most women do their entire fertile lives: manage birth control.
I bet you do the dishes a couple times a week too.
Get this man a round of applause.
What the fuck does getting a vasectomy have to do with sexism.
Does birth control only benefit women? What a fucking paternalistic construct.
Bob, you simply can’t help yourself. You overflow with internalized bias. We all do, but you seem exceptionally unaware of it.
Holy shit. That’s classic.
Can’t we all just focus on the positive here? Bob got a vasectomy!
iRobert— I took the pill, used a diaphragm, supplied condoms, Had IUD’s, two abortions and two kids (one at 40), and no one has ever celebrated my management of my reproductive health.
Why would we give a shit about Bob’s?
Let’s focus on Trump.
I’m thinking he didn’t say that by accident. He knows exactly what he’s doing when he references the bloodlines of America’s most famous Nazi sympathizer. It’s barely even coded. Somewhere White Supremacists we’re cheering on his courage.
Also do men just need to talk about their dicks/nuts constantly?
I mean he could have said I do grocery shopping or take the kids to school or any number of other tasks that women care as much about and do daily still, much more than men. Even when we are the breadwinners. The statistics on division of household labor remain alarming.
But Bob needs to talk about his Vas Deferens.
Jesus fucking Christ.
Aloha, while the Leader distracts and dissembles, he throws out yet another treaty built to ensure peace between nuclear powers. First Trump ditches the Iran nuclear deal, then the Intermediate nuclear treaty, and now the Open Sky treaty. Combine that with the US ditching the ABM treaty and creating a space military force and the coming bi-polar world created by the Trump virus and the future looks dreary and drab at best.
Do you think any Democrats will impeach the Leader over the abrogation of yet another treaty this time in violation of the law?
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/21/democrats-trump-open-skies-treaty-273697
And this…
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/05/22/861299458/77-nobel-laureates-denounce-trump-officials-for-pulling-coronavirus-research-gra
JH, well to be fair the context of Bob mentioning his vasectomy was in a discussion about reproductive rights. But yes, I have noticed that a lot of men do like talking about their private bits.
Busted– I didn’t;t read the debate between you and HW and then Bob. Now I have and I think that was wise even though I missed some context.
I wonder why Bob thinks that all women need to agree on an issue in order for it to be a critical one for women’s rights. That’s just bizarre.
He should watch Mrs. America. It’s not bad.
And Bob– I don’t think you are a misogynist because you oppose ‘corporate Democrats.’ I think you are a misogynist because you say misogynistic things and frame discussions/points in paternalistic ways, and when Lynne and I point that up, you lose your shit.
Being a feminist, male or female, requires self-reflection and inquiry, being a White Straight Male (no matter one’s political orientation) does not.
I have many feminist friends, male and female, who are critical of Corporate Dems. They do not frame their arguments as you do and they do not deny sexism at play in Leftist and establishment Dem politics, in all politics. It’s not necessary to attack Pelosi whole cloth. That’s a super limited view. They all criticize Biden too. You seem less inclined to do so v the women.
Aloha Lynne, all my life all I have heard is woman bitch and moan about bras and breast size and you think men are preoccupied with their private parts. Between my wife and I all we do is complain about our private parts to one another. If they are not sagging, its shriveled up. We both agree that crotches and folds in one’s body create all sorts of unpleasantness they never talk about on TV or write about in novels.
Wobblie– Body dysmorphia and shame is not unique to women. They just are culturally conditioned to talk about it more.What of the great revelations of dating in late middle age is the tremendous neurotic insecurity men feel about aging and their bodies that at least meets that of women. In terms of how women v men talk about their bodies, this has been well studied by linguists. We talk about them differently but equally. Americans are fucked up by both sexism and our puritanical protestant legacy. It makes us both over-sexualized and overly uptight. We are completely out of balance about sex, either having too much or too little, focusing on who we look instead of how we feel, etc etc.
At any rate it was I, not Lynne, who didn’t read the whole thread and see that Bob was talking about his vasectomy in context of a discussion about reproductive health. I didn’t get past the embedded paternalistic self-congratulation of his comment, and over-reacted.
Men do talk about their dicks and balls. I suppose if my genitalia was hanging out of my body completely vulnerable, I might talk about it a lot too.
Wobblie, if a woman is talking about a bra being uncomfortable, is she talking about her breasts or is she talking about bras? ditto issues like breastfeeding in public. Is that *really* a conversation about her own breasts or is it a conversation about how the sexualization of their breasts by others causes unnecessary restrictions?
I mean that often men talk about their dicks and that is the extent of it. They aren’t really talking about undergarments making them uncomfortable. Nor have I ever heard a man complain that women are sexualizing his penis. Men just like to talk about their dicks and balls but in ways that conflate them with personality traits. I will admit that I am guilty of it too. I talk dick with my friends sometimes. I certainly have been guilty of conflating dick size with other qualities that are completely unrelated to dick size. Something I have picked up because we live in a society where the size of male genitalia is conflated with personality. I have never heard a woman accused of driving a giant pickup truck because her vagina is too small for instance. We don’t use “she has ovaries” to convey braveness in the same we do balls. *shrug*
As my friends have been approaching menopause, there are a lot of discussions of female reproductive organs but again, not in the same way that men seem to talk about their private parts. No one brags that their uterus, cervix, ovaries, or vagina is superior or at least I haven’t seen it.
Forgetting plot?
https://www.caranddriver.com/features/a32596661/260000-mile-subaru-fueled-by-hope/
I had that exact car— 2003 with 230k miles on it. I bought it at 200k for $1600 and never put much into it. It’s a great car. I bought a new (to me) car this fall and gave the Subaru to a friend. In similar predicament to the person in that article. I made sure it was safe first, because I didn’t want that on my conscience.
The bit about predatory towing and fees that disproportionately affect those with the least is dead on.
But most of the people (I should say documented workers) I know who have been struggling the most are actually doing better than ever in this pandemic thanks to the federal subsidy on unemployment. They have time to rest and more money than before.
It turns out that a living wage is way more than most service sector workers make and it took a pandemic for congress to realize that.
I hope they get used to it.
In general everything happening now to people has always happened on a case by case basis and there is little support normally. You are left to deal with whatever cara Lysol befalls you Alone.
Now that it’s happening to many ppl at once, the insiffucuencies of our social safety net have become apparent.
There’s a real upstairs downstairs divide in how the outbreak is affecting people.
JH, I wonder how many are realizing that. I mean, I know that *some* people are realizing how inadequate our social safety net is but others are complaining that the bailout was too generous. As Anonymous has pointed out, there is a real upstairs/downstairs divide in how the outbreak is affecting people. Some employers are already complaining that the extra unemployment money is making it so fewer workers want to work for them for low wages and shitty and unsafe work conditions.