Without the distraction of a major national disaster or war, Trump's superlative-laced word-salad self-eulogies will only get funnier in their weirdness...

Remembering, though, that 9/11 morphed Bush from a comically cool archetypical Texan (at least from a foreigner's perspective) into a dangerously incompetent wartime President whose parody character would not be out of place among the cast of 'Dr Strangelove'...

Bigger than both of Clinton's though   ...


Bill Clinton, 1997  -  250,000
Clinton, 1993  -  800,000

Did anyone else notice how small his hands are?

What's that all about?   

greggerypeccary wrote on Jan 22^nd, 2017 at 2:45pm:

Has creepy little carnie hands..smells like cabbage

Dnarever wrote on Jan 22^nd, 2017 at 3:30pm:

 

After the horse has bolted but still...good work ladies.

Dnarever wrote on Jan 22^nd, 2017 at 3:30pm:



250 000 for the inauguration

500 000 protestors in Washington
750 000 protestors in Los Angeles

John Smith wrote on Jan 22^nd, 2017 at 3:36pm:


If I was an eccentric billionaire, I'd have hired a skywriter to place 'tough titties' above the crowd.

Nope, that is the Smithsonian.

Agnes wrote on Jan 22^nd, 2017 at 2:41pm:


Is that what your boyfriend says about you Abscess?

NorthOfNorth wrote on Jan 22^nd, 2017 at 12:43pm:



Quote:


it probably does not make a huge difference.
He was voted in.
The misreporting of the crowd is the issue here.

Sprintcyclist wrote on Jan 22^nd, 2017 at 4:21pm:



Just like his hands, Minty Sprinty?

Gordon wrote on Jan 22^nd, 2017 at 4:52pm:


Apparently if you paint your face orange you will get away with it.

The man is a combative fool. The worst example I can find of a President absolutely determined to put everybody offside from day one. Can you imagine the idiocy of spending the very first press conference to lamblast and abuse the media? The media is essential to any government in getting its message across and gaining support. All he has done is create absolutely implacable enemies that will never support him, actively oppose him and destroy his presidency.

The man is an absolute clown, the likes we have not seen before.

I find his behaviour not simply disgraceful but astonishingly foolish. He will end up impeached for sure, because his party already doesnt like him and he does nothing but create enemies.

Black Orchid wrote on Jan 22^nd, 2017 at 2:42pm:


Not anymore. By using his first press briefing to throw a hissy fit about press reporting on the size of his crowd, Trump's just gone down in history as the world's biggest w@nker.

As if numbers are going to matter now.

By the way, Black, they don't sell tickets. The numbers quoted are estimates by journalists.

longweekend58 wrote on Jan 22^nd, 2017 at 5:31pm:


Apparently you are wrong



Trump Receives Standing Ovation After CIA Speech (FULL SPEECH)

Melanias purse wrote on Jan 22^nd, 2017 at 7:19pm:



He is putting the media on notice from day one that misrepresentation and anti-Trump bias is noticed and is not tolerated.

This is the media that has relentless written him off as a no-chance for the nomination and then a no-chance to win the presidency.  It is the media, after all, that was near unanimous about pegging his chances to be elected around the 10% mark. Bollocking them on day one is the least he could do.  Now he is president and the first thing he is telling the media is to either stop the slanting or he will deny them access - see CNN.

And quite right too. He doesn't have to go along with the all-too-obvious slanting of the mainstream media reporting. He knows how the media works and he is telling them that he is onto them, from day one. The media has been sticking it to him in quite a hostile way, now it was his turn to give them a huge bollocking.  Go Trump.

Frank wrote on Jan 22^nd, 2017 at 8:34pm:


There's no misrepresentation.

The alleged child rapist is a compulsive lair.

America First - and the pink-haired Americans get triggered.
No illegal immigration - triggered.
Time for empty talk is over - triggered.
American carnage’ of gangs, drugs stops now - triggered.
A nation exists to serve its citizens - triggered.
Loyalty to their own country - triggered.


They reacted to the election of Reagan in a very similar way. A hundred years earlier the election of Lincoln triggered the Civil War.

Lincoln, Reagan, Trump - Republicans. The millions of Americans who didn't vote for Obama  (ie republicans) didn't make such clowns of themselves.



And of course it's the same elsewhere - Thatcher, Fraser, Howard, Abbott - the Left gets very emotional and triggered when they are defeated at elections. They only like democracy if they get elected, otherwise they go apeshite.

What is it about the Left? Why so emotionally unstable?

NorthOfNorth wrote on Jan 22^nd, 2017 at 10:22pm:



Not at his inauguration.




Anyway, elsewhere in the world his inauguration is greeted:

Le Pen said:

"We are living through the end of one world, and the birth of another. We are experiencing the return of nation-states. 2016 was the year the Anglo-Saxon world woke up. 2017, I am sure, will be the year in which the peoples of the European continent rise up."

Wilders added:

"The world is changing. America is changing. Europe is changing. It started last year with Brexit, yesterday there was Trump and today the freedom-loving parties gathered in Koblenz are making a stand. The genie will not go back into the bottle again, whether you like it or not. The people of the West are awakening. They are throwing off the yoke of political correctness."
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9810/trump-europe-establishment


That's what matters: the genie will not go back into the bottle again, whether you like it or not.

NorthOfNorth wrote on Jan 22^nd, 2017 at 11:05pm:



The Roman Empire fell apart. The Holy Roman Empire fell apart (thanks, Napoleon!), the Third Reich fell apart, the Soviet Empire fell apart.  Time for the European Union to fall apart.

They always over-reach.

Frank wrote on Jan 22^nd, 2017 at 11:28pm:

You forgot the Ottoman Empire, the (short-lived) Japanese Empire, the British Empire, the Soviet Union...

All empires overreach...

In the case of imperial overreach, the big question of our times is not 'has the EU overreached' but has the American Empire done so?

But, back to the OP... I'm starting to see that Trump's clownish deflections (does he really care that much about numbers?) may be a parody of a parody - A real life Michael Rimmer as in the Peter Cook comedy, 'The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer'...

The movie's plot is remarkably 'Trumpian'... Distract and irritate the people and the media with endless inanities and ultimately deceive them into handing him autocratic power...

NorthOfNorth wrote on Jan 22^nd, 2017 at 11:49pm:

And the Rimmer parody continues... And throw Orwellianism into the plot... 'Alternative' facts?

Will Conway's defence one day be 'I was only following orders'?

The US and the world are being taken for ride...

Trump administration had presented “alternative facts” to counter low inauguration crowd estimates.

http://www.news.com.au/finance/work/leaders/white-house-senior-adviser-kellyanne...

Frank wrote on Jan 22^nd, 2017 at 8:34pm:


On notice? Over what? His ego?

I hope there is nothing but a lot of "anti-Trump bias" from the media and if he is too much of a little cry baby to "tolerate" it then maybe America needs a leader who can.

bugger you and your fascism

Frank wrote on Jan 22^nd, 2017 at 8:34pm:


Yeah, "on notice"

 Frank wrote on Jan 22^nd, 2017 at 8:34pm:


Access to what? His dog and pony show(s)? Trump needs the media it's what feeds his ego.

Frank wrote on Jan 22^nd, 2017 at 8:34pm:



Wonderful. You stick with your delusional fat dayglo orange bag of fetid poo and the Orwellian Newspeak he spews; his lies, misrepresentation, and his ever increasing mental illness  and watch as the media rips him to shreds.

The weird thing I can see about the whole lying about the crowd, is why do you even have to?


Trump won the election, he's President, was it really necessary to lie about the size of the crowd?

Prime Minister for Canyons wrote on Jan 23^rd, 2017 at 8:52am:

Unless the point in the first place is to distract and irritate the media and the people by deflection towards the most inane and banal issues...

Frank wrote on Jan 22^nd, 2017 at 10:05pm:


Many of the protesters didn't even vote. And if you've missed the Republicans against Trump movement, you've been in a medically-induced coma for the past year.

Nurse! The old boy has finally come to. Give him another needle, please.

Melanias purse wrote on Jan 23^rd, 2017 at 9:53am:



Why not?? They couldn't be fagged to vote in a secret ballot but they are keen to virtue signal and carry on like idiots in the streets.

http://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/7c8876f1b66a9c825b7b3cac2a1ccaef?width=1024

NorthOfNorth wrote on Jan 22^nd, 2017 at 11:49pm:



There is no American Empire. 

Frank wrote on Jan 23^rd, 2017 at 10:03am:


Because they didn't like the alternative, old chap.

Pretending anti-Trump sentiment is about Democrats and Republicans is not one of your better moments. Just as Trump has united left and right through his national socialism, he's united just as many from the left and right to oppose him.

Trump is only out for himself, as every schoolboy knows. He has no real beliefs outside his own ambition. He's changed political allegiances and stances like ties. He's chopped and changed on everything from his pro-life stance to his once liberal take on drugs. Everybody knows this. Those who back him do so on single issues - like yourself.

Frank wrote on Jan 23^rd, 2017 at 10:08am:


Well yes, but there is an Amerikan stewardship of the global economy. The US is the current source of patents, drug approvals, and the headquarters of the big multinationals. It secures much of the world's energy and trade, owning the Panama Canal and having bases near the Suez Canal. It has military bases in all four corners of the globe.

The US also monitors the world's phone calls, emails, internet searches and credit card transactions through the NSA, CIA, FBI and it's "five eyes" agreement with the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

There is no Amerikan empire, but an Amerikan hegemony. This hegemony is now being tested by China, Russia, and Trump himself.

It is a jolly world, no?

Marla wrote on Jan 23^rd, 2017 at 8:38am:


So WHO said he's not fit for political office?



"You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life".

Winston Churchill

NorthOfNorth wrote on Jan 23^rd, 2017 at 10:27am:
Would you rather the states being the dominating global force or somewhere like China? Now that would be bad for Australia. Because some country is always going to step up.

Prime Minister for Canyons wrote on Jan 23^rd, 2017 at 8:54am:


Exactly.

If the Marla's of this world had stopped chucking tanties about that bitch Hilary losing out to a winner, then there would have been no need for head-counting exercises.

Lord Herbert wrote on Jan 23^rd, 2017 at 10:29am:


Someone who does not declare their income, who does not divest themselves from a global business, and as we're now slowly learning, has been blackmailed by a rival foreign power, is not fit for political office, Herbie.

Trump would not be fit for political office in Australia. Here, we don't have "corporate" bankruptcy laws, only personal ones. Bankrupts are not eligible to be MPs.

NorthOfNorth wrote on Jan 23^rd, 2017 at 10:27am:


An empire is usually defined as one power occupying its colonies, North. Instead, the US merely works with foreign countries through an elaborate system of economic carrots and sticks.

And while the US has indeed chosen puppet governments in a number of countries, it does not have the final say, as movements like the Iranian revolution and the Arab Spring show.

Mr Hammer wrote on Jan 23^rd, 2017 at 10:38am:

It's a seperate conversation... 

TheFunPolice wrote on Jan 23^rd, 2017 at 10:45am:
not always muppet.

Melanias purse wrote on Jan 23^rd, 2017 at 10:48am:
There was nationalism a thousand years ago before complex economic systems. You start messing with countries racially, ethnically  and culturally and people with start grouping together.

Melanias purse wrote on Jan 23^rd, 2017 at 10:40am:

Yes... Usually...

As Chalmers Johnson puts it - "the unit of the American empire is not the colony, as it was in French and British imperialism. Instead the unit of our empire is the military base -- a separate enclave that originally had a strategic purpose, but when that strategic purpose no longer existed [the US] didn’t give up the base".

Melanias purse wrote on Jan 23^rd, 2017 at 10:40am:

And not just economic carrots and sticks, but also military presence...

Prime Minister for Canyons wrote on Jan 23^rd, 2017 at 10:52am:

Life is nasty..

Mr Hammer wrote on Jan 23^rd, 2017 at 10:51am:


There were no nations or nationalism before capitalism, Homo.

Melanias purse wrote on Jan 23^rd, 2017 at 10:57am:
Rome, Carthage , Persia were just the same. Look at Serbia, Ukraine, Chechnya . All nationalistic uprising to do with ethnic issues. Go and have a nanna nap Karnal.

NorthOfNorth wrote on Jan 23^rd, 2017 at 10:55am:


Up to a point, North, sure. But military bases aren't usually used to police the countries they're in. The US doesn't use its German, Japanese or Australian bases to hold Germany, Japan or Australia.

Military bases are the result of economic carrots and sticks, or trade and security deals. In our case, the US base in Darwin is strategically placed to face China. In Japan, their bases face North Korea. And in Germany, they face Russia.

The US "empire" is not based on military force and occupation but, predominantly, bi-lateral trade, finance and development deals. There is also a lot of soft power used - something other countries don't have.

The US has been amazingly successful after WWII in winning countries over. This is slowly changing, but it won't change too quickly. I can't see China, for example, gaining the respect of populations that the US has. China uses trade and military strength alone - in many countries, deals with China would be highly unpopular. I'm surprised there hasn't been more uproar in the Philippines, who have always loved America, who see the US as a liberator.

This is the difference today. The US is no longer seen by the world in glowing terms. Its spying, its trade wars and agricultural policies, its illegal invasions - the US is not the shining light it once was. The fact that the Philippines is prepared to give China a go could represent a major global shift in direction.

And yes, the nationalist/protectionist sentiment expressed through Brexit and Trump may well represent the dying throws of Anglo global dominance.

Mr Hammer wrote on Jan 23^rd, 2017 at 11:02am:


They were not the same. These empires were merely strong armies that invaded and occupied foreign territories.

The concept of a sovereign nation goes back to the post-Napoleonic era. Previously, the world was ruled (and divvied up) by monarchs.

Melanias purse wrote on Jan 23^rd, 2017 at 11:23am:
We could ague all day and night about it. So  do you still believe nationalism come purely out of bad economic situations??

.

Mr Hammer wrote on Jan 23^rd, 2017 at 11:29am:


No, hyper- nationalism, or fascism, can only come out of bad economic situations. Nationalist or racial-supremacists are rarely rich and powerful, Homo.

As you well know.

Melanias purse wrote on Jan 23^rd, 2017 at 11:51am:
In Serbia it was  hundreds of years of ethnic tension that ticked it off for them . The Germans because the Jews started to take over etc etc. Ethnic tension is behind all nationalism and economic situations tick it off. It isn't the other way around.

NorthOfNorth wrote on Jan 23^rd, 2017 at 11:44am:



A penny for your thoughts? 

Mr Hammer wrote on Jan 23^rd, 2017 at 2:20pm:


No, in Serbia it was the dissolution of the USSR and the loss of former markets. In Germany, it was the Great Depression and the burden of its war reparations.

In your own case, it's the loss of manufacturing jobs in Western Sydney and your unsuccessful transition to the service economy.

Ethnic tension does not exist as a thing in itself. It must be sparked. If there were no ethnicities, people would find other reasons to fight when their economic conditions are threatened.