The Many Faces of US Politics...

[sid waddell]

More interesting still are the likes of Glenn Greenwald and Matt Taibbi - who continually say they're "on the left", but are so clearly down the Trump rabbit hole, they have disgraced themselves, all because they're obsessed with being right on the internet - they took a wrong position several years ago, and rather than just say they've changed their minds, they dug in and are still digging in, and have gone completely cray cray

That's funny considering what Taibbi wrote last September https://taibbi.substack.com/p/the-trump-era-sucks-and-needs-to?

Taibbi is the media equivalent of an internet poster who says "oh, but I have criticised Trump as well"

While in reality their whole agenda is slyly pro-Trump

He's a weasel

[Main Street]

More interesting still are the likes of Glenn Greenwald and Matt Taibbi - who continually say they're "on the left", but are so clearly down the Trump rabbit hole, they have disgraced themselves, all because they're obsessed with being right on the internet - they took a wrong position several years ago, and rather than just say they've changed their minds, they dug in and are still digging in, and have gone completely cray cray

That's funny considering what Taibbi wrote last September https://taibbi.substack.com/p/the-trump-era-sucks-and-needs-to?

Taibbi is the media equivalent of an internet poster who says "oh, but I have criticised Trump as well"

While in reality their whole agenda is slyly pro-Trump

He's a weasel

Have you any examples to support your claim?  i.e. apart from you saying he is that.

[whitey]

More interesting still are the likes of Glenn Greenwald and Matt Taibbi - who continually say they're "on the left", but are so clearly down the Trump rabbit hole, they have disgraced themselves, all because they're obsessed with being right on the internet - they took a wrong position several years ago, and rather than just say they've changed their minds, they dug in and are still digging in, and have gone completely cray cray

That's funny considering what Taibbi wrote last September https://taibbi.substack.com/p/the-trump-era-sucks-and-needs-to?

Taibbi is the media equivalent of an internet poster who says "oh, but I have criticised Trump as well"

While in reality their whole agenda is slyly pro-Trump

He's a weasel

Have you any examples to support your claim?  i.e. apart from you saying he is that.

The problem with Sid is that unless you agree with him on 100% of the issues 100% of the time he attempts to shout you down by accusing you of being a racist, Nazi or white supremacist

The Democratic Party, BLM and Antifa are all off limits from any criticism in whatever world he inhabits

Criticize someone who assaults a police officer and now all of a sudden you're accused  of supporting every action of every police officer in every police department in the country going back to the beginning of time.

[Jell 0 Biafra]

Speaking of right wing columnists, this one by a John Kass of the Chicago Tribune showed up in my google news feed.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/columns/john-kass/ct-trump-washington-protests-kass-20210107-iji5pk2j4nh7hlkrn2j3dwi2tq-story.html

Standard, perfunctory stuff after the fact, comdemning Trump's actions yesterday (I've no idea how much of a Trumper he is).

But he includes THIS line at the end:

As I watched the mob breaking the law, climbing the walls, I thought about the roots of their anger. They're the forgotten. They feel as if their voice has been taken from them. They're hated by those who control the culture — the media, the academics, Big Tech, Big Business — and their resentmentment will only grow.

Who the f**k are these apparent babies?

"Oh no, the "elites" or "Big Tech" don't like me, that's why my life is..."

How the f**k can Big Tech not like someone?

Because they ban you for spreading racist or baseless bullshit? If that's the case, then maybe the issue is closer to home.

Academics? Why, because their findings don't jibe with your anecdotal opinion of how the world really is, or what you learned in church or down in the pub or on Fox News?

Big Business? Why the f**k are you voting for a man like Trump and a party like the GOP who think there should be few to no rules for business and no recourse against Big Business for the little guy?

The Media? Do you even listen to, read or watch anything other than Fox News or The Gateway Pundit or Rush Limbaugh and who deliberately stoke the resentment flames?

This is very true. And...
This shit about "the forgotten" one example is that every time Obama tried to push through universal healthcare the Reps voted against it. The Reps believe is small government, by it's very nature it forgets about people. Let people sort themselves, the cream will rise. That is their attitude.
They've been gaslighting these people for years and they have finally lost their minds.

To those of you with a better understanding of Washington, why did it seem like there was so little security and why was it possible for what appeared to be an unarmed mob to just walk into Capitol hill. I would imagine with the domestic terrorism they suffer out there that it would be basically 24/7 armed guard? That just appears strange. I remember going out the Statue of Liberty and the security was really strict. Something about that doesn't sit right with me.

A mixture of factors.  There are only about 2000 police in the Capitol (as opposed to the D.C. police).  A request for the national guard for additional security was apparently denied.  The person who would be in charge of bringing in the army was across town telling his supporters to storm the Capitol, so he'd hardly be likely to get the army in.

And then you have videos of police opening barriers for the insurgents, and taking selfies with them inside the building.

Having been at large peaceful protests over the years, I can tell you that the more usual security is streets lined with riot police in full gear.  And lots of people getting hemmed in by the police, zip-tied, and arrested.

[J70]

Speaking of right wing columnists, this one by a John Kass of the Chicago Tribune showed up in my google news feed.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/columns/john-kass/ct-trump-washington-protests-kass-20210107-iji5pk2j4nh7hlkrn2j3dwi2tq-story.html

Standard, perfunctory stuff after the fact, comdemning Trump's actions yesterday (I've no idea how much of a Trumper he is).

But he includes THIS line at the end:

As I watched the mob breaking the law, climbing the walls, I thought about the roots of their anger. They're the forgotten. They feel as if their voice has been taken from them. They're hated by those who control the culture — the media, the academics, Big Tech, Big Business — and their resentmentment will only grow.

Who the f**k are these apparent babies?

"Oh no, the "elites" or "Big Tech" don't like me, that's why my life is..."

How the f**k can Big Tech not like someone?

Because they ban you for spreading racist or baseless bullshit? If that's the case, then maybe the issue is closer to home.

Academics? Why, because their findings don't jibe with your anecdotal opinion of how the world really is, or what you learned in church or down in the pub or on Fox News?

Big Business? Why the f**k are you voting for a man like Trump and a party like the GOP who think there should be few to no rules for business and no recourse against Big Business for the little guy?

The Media? Do you even listen to, read or watch anything other than Fox News or The Gateway Pundit or Rush Limbaugh and who deliberately stoke the resentment flames?

This is very true. And...
This shit about "the forgotten" one example is that every time Obama tried to push through universal healthcare the Reps voted against it. The Reps believe is small government, by it's very nature it forgets about people. Let people sort themselves, the cream will rise. That is their attitude.
They've been gaslighting these people for years and they have finally lost their minds.

To those of you with a better understanding of Washington, why did it seem like there was so little security and why was it possible for what appeared to be an unarmed mob to just walk into Capitol hill. I would imagine with the domestic terrorism they suffer out there that it would be basically 24/7 armed guard? That just appears strange. I remember going out the Statue of Liberty and the security was really strict. Something about that doesn't sit right with me.

A mixture of factors.  There are only about 2000 police in the Capitol (as opposed to the D.C. police).  A request for the national guard for additional security was apparently denied.  The person who would be in charge of bringing in the army was across town telling his supporters to storm the Capitol, so he'd hardly be likely to get the army in.

And then you have videos of police opening barriers for the insurgents, and taking selfies with them inside the building.

Having been at large peaceful protests over the years, I can tell you that the more usual security is streets lined with riot police in full gear.  And lots of people getting hemmed in by the police, zip-tied, and arrested.

I don't know which committees have oversight of the Capitol police and overall security (Judiciary, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairis?), but there'll definitely be investigations with the Dems now in charge.

[five points]

Taibbi is the media equivalent of an internet poster who says "oh, but I have criticised Trump as well"

While in reality their whole agenda is slyly pro-Trump

He's a weasel

There's a bit more than criticism in that piece, written weeks out from an election when a good percentage of Taibbi's readership was presumably deciding which way to cast their vote in a tight election race. He tore Trump to pieces.

If that's slyly pro-Trump, I'll have whatever you're smoking.

[sid waddell]

More interesting still are the likes of Glenn Greenwald and Matt Taibbi - who continually say they're "on the left", but are so clearly down the Trump rabbit hole, they have disgraced themselves, all because they're obsessed with being right on the internet - they took a wrong position several years ago, and rather than just say they've changed their minds, they dug in and are still digging in, and have gone completely cray cray

That's funny considering what Taibbi wrote last September https://taibbi.substack.com/p/the-trump-era-sucks-and-needs-to?

Taibbi is the media equivalent of an internet poster who says "oh, but I have criticised Trump as well"

While in reality their whole agenda is slyly pro-Trump

He's a weasel

Have you any examples to support your claim?  i.e. apart from you saying he is that.

Taibbie says "Russiagate is this generation's WMD"

Pure shite

I've been reading Greenwald and Taibbi's Twitter feeds for years

Read their feeds - they are full of downplaying Trump's threat, continual snide comments, their obsession is with MSNBC, CNN and others, that's who their enemy is, not Trump, and it's for the worst reasons

Michael Tracey is another guy exactly like this, they all have an online circle jerk going, backslaps for the boys

None are proper journalists, they are opinion writers who write continual self-pitying parodies of pieces, that's why they've fucked off to Substack

Greenwald was basically fired from his own online outlet The Intercept, recently, because he was pushing far right disinformation

Him and Taibbi totally dismiss the notion that Trump is a Russian asset despite literally everything we know about him leaving no other explanation than that he is

Greenwald is a regular on Tucker Carlson

What Greenwald and Taibbi are is the Jimmy Dore "left" - the dirtbag left ie. they take a Russia Today line

They are obsessed with the notion that Trump has nothing to do with Russia

They are not to be trusted

Greenwald/Taibbi is a Batman/Robin type situation - Greenwald is Batman and Taibbi is Robin

Taibbi is a parrot of Greenwald

Taibbi spent years in Russia in the 1990s with RT favourite Mark Ames, and they treated women abominably there, it was a basically a sexual harrassment safari for rich kids for them

Join the dots as to their views on Russia

Greenwald lives in Brazil where he rails against Bolsonaro

Yet he applies an altogether different standard as regards Trump - how does that work? Imagine being fiercely anti-Mussolini but strangely ambivalent towards Hitler

There is a section of "the left" (if you believe they really are on the left) who are morally bankrupt on Trump because they are Russia apologists, they downplay his threat

Sad to say but John Pilger, a once great journalist, is in this category

Tulsi Gabbard is very much in this category

None of them are to be remotely trusted

[J70]

I read Taibbi's piece and his criticism of the left for giving oxygen to his "act".

My question for him would be how can people NOT react to Trump's rhetoric and actions? He's the president FFS, not some loudmouth down the pub.

I really hope the media begins to ignore him after January 20, but at a certain point you can't. I don't expect him to dominate the news, but if he is out there holding rallies, promoting racism and xenophobia, and still holding one of the two major parties in the palm of his hand, how do you pretend he's not there?

Maybe the GOP will do everyone a favour, face him down and not give in to the pressure. Or else split and leave him with a small constituency (but then again, a majority of Republicans have said Trump over party in polls last year).

[Taylor]

If Trump went away (illess/death/whatever) does anyone think things would change in the States?

There is a substantial amount of people in the US that will link themselves to anyone who will forward what they see as their right

[sid waddell]

Taibbi is the media equivalent of an internet poster who says "oh, but I have criticised Trump as well"

While in reality their whole agenda is slyly pro-Trump

He's a weasel

There's a bit more than criticism in that piece, written weeks out from an election when a good percentage of Taibbi's readership was presumably deciding which way to cast their vote in a tight election race. He tore Trump to pieces.

If that's slyly pro-Trump, I'll have whatever you're smoking.

Taibbi is a con

He'll say stuff that makes him look good

But his criticisms of Trump are always skin deep

He'll talk about Trump's "mental state" (in reality there's nothing to indicate Trump is genuinely mentally impaired), his narcissism, things like that, he'll utter shallow criticisms of Trump's racism and manner

The exact same things you'll read in the Wall Street Journal - safe criticism

Taibbi writes from a privileged white boy standpoint - what Trump has unleashed will never affect him

He's a shallow soap opera guy

But he won't do a proper dig into the structural factors around Trump, he won't dig into Trump's criminal ties and criminal past he won't dig into stuff that might really rock the boat, like how badly the Republican party is compromised

To him, Trump's racism and fascism is not really racism and fascism, it's a tiddling curiosity to be laughed at

To Taibbi, the real enemy is not Trump and the Republicans and the things that drive them like kleptocracy, white supremacism, science denial and kompromat - but Rachel Maddow, Sarah Kendzior, David Cay Johnston and Timothy Snyder, Wayne Barrett before them - people who are actually on Trump's tail for real and have a proper rounded understanding of what's going on

Initially I thought that was he was too proud to admit he was asleep at the wheel in 2016/17 about what Trump was, but now I'm not so sure, I think there may be more malign motives, I can't prove that, but I've seen nothing to make me suspect he and Greenwald have good faith motives

[sid waddell]

I read Taibbi's piece and his criticism of the left for giving oxygen to his "act".

My question for him would be how can people NOT react to Trump's rhetoric and actions? He's the president FFS, not some loudmouth down the pub.

I really hope the media begins to ignore him after January 20, but at a certain point you can't. I don't expect him to dominate the news, but if he is out there holding rallies, promoting racism and xenophobia, and still holding one of the two major parties in the palm of his hand, how do you pretend he's not there?

Maybe the GOP will do everyone a favour, face him down and not give in to the pressure. Or else split and leave him with a small constituency (but then again, a majority of Republicans have said Trump over party in polls last year).

And this is the core of Taibbi's message - ignore Trump as if he's a curiosity, that Trump is "acting", "it's not fascism, tut tut", that the "real blame" for Trump lies with who "provoked" the Trump phenomenon

You have to seriously question the motives of anybody for whom this is the narrative

This is the Russian narrative

[sid waddell]

Incidentally Glenn Greenwald, who says "Russiagate is this generation's WMD", supported the Iraq War

Something he will now never admit to - but he admitted it himself, he wrote it in 2006

https://www.bookbrowse.com/excerpts/index.cfm?fuseaction=printable&book_number=1812

During the lead-up to the invasion, I was concerned that the hell-bent focus on invading Iraq was being driven by agendas and strategic objectives that had nothing to do with terrorism or the 9/11 attacks. The overt rationale for the invasion was exceedingly weak, particularly given that it would lead to an open-ended, incalculably costly, and intensely risky preemptive war. Around the same time, it was revealed that an invasion of Iraq and the removal of Saddam Hussein had been high on the agenda of various senior administration officials long before September 11. Despite these doubts, concerns, and grounds for ambivalence, I had not abandoned my trust in the Bush administration. Between the president's performance in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, the swift removal of the Taliban in Afghanistan, and the fact that I wanted the president to succeed, because my loyalty is to my country and he was the leader of my country, I still gave the administration the benefit of the doubt. I believed then that the president was entitled to have his national security judgment deferred to, and to the extent that I was able to develop a definitive view, I accepted his judgment that American security really would be enhanced by the invasion of this sovereign country.

[Main Street]

Taibbi is the media equivalent of an internet poster who says "oh, but I have criticised Trump as well"

While in reality their whole agenda is slyly pro-Trump

He's a weasel

There's a bit more than criticism in that piece, written weeks out from an election when a good percentage of Taibbi's readership was presumably deciding which way to cast their vote in a tight election race. He tore Trump to pieces.

If that's slyly pro-Trump, I'll have whatever you're smoking.

Taibbi is a con

He'll say stuff that makes him look good

But his criticisms of Trump are always skin deep

He'll talk about Trump's "mental state" (in reality there's nothing to indicate Trump is genuinely mentally impaired), his narcissism, things like that, he'll utter shallow criticisms of Trump's racism and manner

The exact same things you'll read in the Wall Street Journal - safe criticism

Taibbi writes from a privileged white boy standpoint - what Trump has unleashed will never affect him

He's a shallow soap opera guy

But he won't do a proper dig into the structural factors around Trump, he won't dig into Trump's criminal ties and criminal past he won't dig into stuff that might really rock the boat, like how badly the Republican party is compromised

To him, Trump's racism and fascism is not really racism and fascism, it's a tiddling curiosity to be laughed at

To Taibbi, the real enemy is not Trump and the Republicans and the things that drive them like kleptocracy, white supremacism, science denial and kompromat - but Rachel Maddow, Sarah Kendzior, David Cay Johnston and Timothy Snyder, Wayne Barrett before them - people who are actually on Trump's tail for real and have a proper rounded understanding of what's going on

Initially I thought that was he was too proud to admit he was asleep at the wheel in 2016/17 about what Trump was, but now I'm not so sure, I think there may be more malign motives, I can't prove that, but I've seen nothing to make me suspect he and Greenwald have good faith motives

So no links provided to something Taibbi wrote in order to support your claim,  just Sid says 'Mat's a weasel who's slid down  deep into Trump's rabbit hole',  therefore he is.

[sid waddell]

If Trump went away (illess/death/whatever) does anyone think things would change in the States?

There is a substantial amount of people in the US that will link themselves to anyone who will forward what they see as their right

White supremacism is an ever present monster

It's always there

Many tens of millions of white people who do not consider themselves white supremacist are white supremacist

Trump unleashed the monster

After the 1960s, the Republicans had always been unleashing the monster of white supremacism, but in coded ways which sort of kept it somewhat in check, evil as their strategy was - but there's no safe dose in which you can do that, if you appease it, it comes to a head

Plenty of Democrats also participated in that

White supremacism will always be there as long as historical and contemporary truths are not faced up to - and doing that offends many tens of millions of white people in the US in the same way that telling real truths about the British Empire offends a lot of British people

Calling for "unity", for "healing", while better than what the Republicans do, still offers cover to what are essentially historical and contemporary lies, and allows the white supremacist monster continue to lurk, it just doesn't poke it in the same way

But the monster is currently out there and rampant, it's hard to see how it can even be subdued at this point

[sid waddell]

Taibbi is the media equivalent of an internet poster who says "oh, but I have criticised Trump as well"

While in reality their whole agenda is slyly pro-Trump

He's a weasel

There's a bit more than criticism in that piece, written weeks out from an election when a good percentage of Taibbi's readership was presumably deciding which way to cast their vote in a tight election race. He tore Trump to pieces.

If that's slyly pro-Trump, I'll have whatever you're smoking.

Taibbi is a con

He'll say stuff that makes him look good

But his criticisms of Trump are always skin deep

He'll talk about Trump's "mental state" (in reality there's nothing to indicate Trump is genuinely mentally impaired), his narcissism, things like that, he'll utter shallow criticisms of Trump's racism and manner

The exact same things you'll read in the Wall Street Journal - safe criticism

Taibbi writes from a privileged white boy standpoint - what Trump has unleashed will never affect him

He's a shallow soap opera guy

But he won't do a proper dig into the structural factors around Trump, he won't dig into Trump's criminal ties and criminal past he won't dig into stuff that might really rock the boat, like how badly the Republican party is compromised

To him, Trump's racism and fascism is not really racism and fascism, it's a tiddling curiosity to be laughed at

To Taibbi, the real enemy is not Trump and the Republicans and the things that drive them like kleptocracy, white supremacism, science denial and kompromat - but Rachel Maddow, Sarah Kendzior, David Cay Johnston and Timothy Snyder, Wayne Barrett before them - people who are actually on Trump's tail for real and have a proper rounded understanding of what's going on

Initially I thought that was he was too proud to admit he was asleep at the wheel in 2016/17 about what Trump was, but now I'm not so sure, I think there may be more malign motives, I can't prove that, but I've seen nothing to make me suspect he and Greenwald have good faith motives

So no links provided to something Taibbi wrote in order to support your claim,  just Sid says 'Mat's a weasel who's slid down  deep into Trump's rabbit hole',  therefore he is.

Yes, that's exactly what he is - a weasel

Follow Taibbi and you'll find I'm absolutely correct - as I am about his fellow circle jerkers, Greenwald, Michael Tracey, Krystal Ball, Katie Halper, Jimmy Dore and Tulsi Gabbard

Read Taibbi's article linked to above - the safest, most non-challenging criticism of Trump you'll ever find

Which is exactly what he specialises in

That's the modus operandi of a weasel