o [url=www.nakedcapitalism.com/2016/05/our-awful-elites-gutted-america-now-they-dare-ring-alarms-about-trump-sanders-and-cast-themselves-as-saviors.html#comment-2593147]Our Awful Elites Gutted America. Now They Dare Ring Alarms About Trump, Sanders—And Cast Themselves as Saviors[/url] | naked capitalism
[quote]No, the danger is the elites, who have made such a joke of the democratic process, who have so perverted and rotted it from within, that the entire edifice is crumbling (to the consternation of the elites). Both parties are in terminal decline after forty years of ignoring the travails of the average worker (the Republicans admit they’re in the intensive care unit, while the Democrats calling for Sanders to quit already have yet to come around to admitting that they might have the flu), and voters on both right and left have at last—and this is a breath of relief—stopped caring about the cultural distractions that have kept the elites in power. No, they want their jobs back, even if it means building a wall, keeping Muslims out, deporting the illegals, and starting trade wars with China and Japan—because what else did the elites give them, they’re still opposing a living wage!

Sullivan comes right out and says it: it’s all because of [i]too much democracy[/i], the same bugbear elites on both sides have been offended by since the “crisis of excess democracy” in the mid-1970s, the same lament that Sullivan’s masters in the ivory tower, Samuel P. Huntington and others, have been leveling ever since they made it their job to put the exuberance of the late sixties and early seventies to rest once and for all. So they engineered the neoliberal revolution, where the “qualified” elites are firmly in charge, and the only way to get ahead is not democratic (or individualist) unpredictability—and who is a greater exemplar of unpredictability than Trump?—but elite planning, a certain coldhearted “rationality” that is as efficient as any totalitarian system ever was in sidelining those who do not have what it takes to succeed.

So, the problem, according to all the elites, is too much democracy. Thank you Andrew Sullivan, a Harvard humanities education—all that Plato you read!—was hardly ever put to worse use in the four-hundred-year annals of the institution.[/quote]


o [i]Dilbert[/i] creator Scott Adams was one of the first notables to predict Trump would not merely be competitive in the GOP candidacy race, but would in all likelihood trounce the rest of the field. Here his latest blog post on the subject, followed by a longer WaPo op-ed by him:

[url=blog.dilbert.com/post/143898615346/how-not-to-make-a-campaign-ad]How Not to Make a Campaign Ad[/url] | Scott Adams Blog
[quote]The Clinton campaign came out with a new attack ad against Trump that features a number of Republicans trash-talking him. Let’s evaluate it for persuasiveness.

In the 2D world of reason and logic, the ad makes complete sense. Trump says he wants to be a unifier, and the ad shows a bunch of important Republicans saying bad things about him. They do not sound unified.

But no one cares about reason and logic.

Let’s evaluate the ad for its persuasiveness.

Trump’s proposition is that the establishment is a bunch of useless losers and he can do better. The ad shows Trump being opposed by… a bunch of useless losers on the Republican side. Trump annihilated every one of them. And it wasn’t even hard.[/quote]

[url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2016/03/21/donald-trump-will-win-in-a-landslide-the-mind-behind-dilbert-explains-why/?tid=hybrid_experimentrandom_3_na]Donald Trump will win in a landslide. The mind behind 'Dilbert' explains why[/url] | WaPo

NB: I think Adams oversells the "facts don't matter a bit" narrative - Trump is notoriously all over the place in his rhetoric, perhaps because oh his habit of giving unscripted speeches and reading the audience response while doing so - but has said cogent things about e.g. so-called 'free trade' deals having destroyed the American manufacturing economy and middle class, and Hillary's neocon bloodlust in the Middle East having 'cost hundreds of thousands of lives'. Oh yes, and W. Bush's invasion of Iraq having been a disaster and him having done quite the opposite of his claim to having 'kept America safe.' Not a single one of the 16 other erstwhile Republican candidates had the guts (or honesty) to 'go there', it got Trump booed by the establishment-picked studio audience at the debate where Trump 'went there', and here we are, we see now that Trump knew precisely who his audience was, and it wasn't the GOP-picked weenies in the studio crowd. Adams does however nail his final list entry:
[quote]6. To bend reality, Trump is a master of identity politics — and identity is the strongest persuader.

“Do you think it is a coincidence that Trump called Megyn Kelly a bimbo and then she got a non-bimbo haircut that is … well, Trumpian?” Adams writes. “It doesn’t look like a coincidence to this trained persuader.”

One way to achieve this is by deploying “linguistic kill shots” that land true, and alter perception through two ways.

“The best Trump linguistic kill shots,” Adams writes,”have the following qualities: 1. Fresh word that is not generally used in politics; 2. Relates to the physicality of the subject (so you are always reminded).”

Writes Adams: “Identity is always the strongest level of persuasion. The only way to beat it is with dirty tricks or a stronger identity play. … [And] Trump is well on his way to owning the identities of American, Alpha Males, and Women Who Like Alpha Males. Clinton is well on her way to owning the identities of angry women, beta males, immigrants, and disenfranchised minorities.

“If this were poker, which hand looks stronger to you for a national election?”[/quote]
Trump's recent pivot to the general election, in all likelihood versus Hillary, provides a perfect example of this - in contrast to Bernie Sanders and his 'gentlemanly' kid-gloves treatment of Hillary (as epitomized by his publicly taking the private-e-mail-server issue off the table in the first Dem debate last Fall), Trump quickly and masterfully framed his putative November opponent using just 2 words: "Crooked Hillary". Expect him to keep hammering that point home over the next 6 months. The Hillary campaign's lame riposte? "Dangerous Donald". See the quote accompanying Adams link #1 above - yes, The Donald *is* dangerous to the crooked political establishment - thanks for reminding us of it, Team Hillary.

Beer-fed sheep
 

[URL="http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/05/budweiser-will-call-its-beer-america-through-the-election/482118/"]Budweiser Will Call Its Beer 'America' Through the Election[/URL]

[QUOTE=only_human;433527][URL="http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/05/budweiser-will-call-its-beer-america-through-the-election/482118/"]Budweiser Will Call Its Beer 'America' Through the Election[/URL][/QUOTE]
Trump received a softball question from Fox and Friends: [URL="http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/279478-trump-takes-credit-for-beer-rebranded-as-america"]Trump takes credit for Budweiser name change[/URL]
[QUOTE]
"Mr. Trump, do you think you had something to do with Budweiser changing the name of their beer over the summer?" co-host Steve Doocy asked on "Fox and Friends," mentioning Trump's "Make America Great Again" slogan.

"I think so. They're so impressed with what our country will become that they decided to do this before the fact," Trump responded during the phone interview.[/QUOTE]
Here are a different Fox and friend flipping Trump the bird yesterday: [URL="http://www.infowars.com/photo-mexican-ex-president-flips-off-trump/"]PHOTO: MEXICAN EX-PRESIDENT FLIPS OFF TRUMP[/URL]

Speaking of beer, anyone remember President Carter's brother's foray into brand recognition?
[url]https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Beer[/url]
[QUOTE]Billy Beer was a beer first made in the United States of America in July 1977, by the Falls City Brewing Company. It was promoted by Billy Carter, the younger brother of then-President Jimmy Carter. Then in October 1978, Falls City announced that it was closing its doors after less than a year of Carter's promotion. The beer was produced by Cold Spring Brewing, West End Brewing, and Pearl Brewing Company.

Written on each can were these words of endorsement, which were followed by Billy Carter's signature:

Brewed expressly for and with the personal approval of one of AMERICA's all-time Great Beer Drinkers—Billy Carter.

I had this beer brewed up just for me. I think it's the best I ever tasted. And I've tasted a lot. I think you'll like it, too.

Despite Carter's promotion of Billy Beer, "in private he drank Pabst".[/QUOTE]
Billy did not do brand endorsements as well as Trump, the master of gold bling name product placement.

During the late-70s beer-can-collecting craze (the successor to the pet rock, disco and CB-radio crazes, IIRC), cans of Billy Beer were a hot item. No idea if same still applies on the interwebs-beer-can trading venues.

[QUOTE=ewmayer;433681]During the late-70s beer-can-collecting craze (the successor to the pet rock, disco and CB-radio crazes, IIRC), cans of Billy Beer were a hot item. No idea if same still applies on the interwebs-beer-can trading venues.[/QUOTE]

Still looks good:
[url]https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=shopping&tbm=shop&noj=1&btnG=Search&q=billy+beer[/url]

Years back I remember seeing Trump Vodka on the shelf. I wish I had had the forethought to buy as many cases as I could afford (for a rainy day).

[QUOTE=schickel;433711]Years back I remember seeing Trump Vodka on the shelf. I wish I had had the forethought to buy as many cases as I could afford (for a rainy day).[/QUOTE]
Good cleaning solvent, no doubt.

In what is being hailed as a productive closed-door meeting between two leaders of the Republican Party, Donald J. Trump promised House Speaker Paul Ryan on Thursday that he would try [URL="http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/36842-trump-promises-paul-ryan-that-hell-sound-slightly-less-like-hitler"]to sound slightly less like the former German Chancellor Adolf Hitler. :smile:
[/URL]

[QUOTE=kladner;433788]In what is being hailed as a productive closed-door meeting between two leaders of the Republican Party, Donald J. Trump promised House Speaker Paul Ryan on Thursday that he would try [URL="http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/36842-trump-promises-paul-ryan-that-hell-sound-slightly-less-like-hitler"]to sound slightly less like the former German Chancellor Adolf Hitler. :smile:
[/URL][/QUOTE]
From Reuters (a nice German-sounding news agency name there):
[i]
In a magnanimous let's-meet-halfway gesture, Speaker Ryan has committed to changing his name to Ryan von Paulus. Sprecher Freiherr von Paulus, as he now insists on being called, added, after polishing and refitting his gold-rimmed monocle, "Aber ich bin und bleibe ein Duschsack - auf diesem Bereich gibt es kein Kompromiss!")[/i]

So this week, in the land of Trump news (all Trump, all the time) a tremendously huuuge amount of stuff happened. I'm gonna skip the recap but feel that although NBC's SNL comedy show did scramble to include a topical role of Trump spokesperson Joey Pepperoni transparently acted out by the shows Trump character himself for their cold open, for me, real comedy gold would have Joey Pepperoni calling up other countries to engage in Trump braggadacio. One classic skit was Reagan calling countries all through the night.

o [url=www.nakedcapitalism.com/2016/05/democratic-establishments-thuggish-power-grab-at-nevada-convention.html]Democratic Establishment's Thuggish Power Grab at Nevada Convention[/url] | naked capitalism

o [url=http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/bill-clinton-charge-revitalizing-economy-hillary-clinton/story?id=39132832]Bill Clinton Would Be ‘In Charge of Revitalizing the Economy,’ Hillary Clinton Says[/url] | ABC -- Heaven help us.

Lots of NC [url=http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2016/05/links-51616.html#comment-2597602]reader discussion[/url] on this one - the comment about "not so much 'a chicken in every pot' as 'an underage hooker in every bedroom'" (a reference to the recent revelation of Bill's being a [url=http://www.abeldanger.net/2016/01/bill-clinton-takes-lolita-express-to.html]frequent flyer of billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein's now-infamous 'Lolita Express' private jet[/url] as well as Epstein's yacht) is classic. [One unfortunate but hilariously-apt typo in the piece: the missing 'L' in 'public scrutiny'.]

o [url=www.rollcall.com/news/opinion/trump-smart-drag-bill-clintons-past-race]Why Trump Is Smart to Drag Bill Clinton's Past Into the Race[/url] | Roll Call
[quote]I was on cable news for an hour Monday night, and guess what we spent about 50 minutes discussing? You guessed it, Donald Trump’s attacks on Bill and Hillary. But not just that — we were treated to a media package about Bill Clinton’s past misdeeds.
...
For a generation of millennials who didn’t live through the scandals of the 1990s — who now live in a time when allegations of sexual harassment are taken more seriously than ever — this is not necessarily something the Clintons enjoy seeing recycled. … Trump is a more formidable adversary than his opponents may appreciate. Just when it looks like he’s doing something stupid — playing right into your hands — you wake up to discover he has pulled off a miracle. The Clintons had better take him seriously.[/quote]

o [url=https://www.yahoo.com/news/whats-up-with-donald-trump-and-the-women-not-090043983.html?ref=gs]What’s up with Donald Trump and ‘the women’? Not what you might think[/url] | Yahoo News
[quote]For those who see Trump as a paradox and a conundrum — a billionaire Republican who favors taxing the wealthiest, a man who has described himself as both “very pro-choice” and “very simple, pro-life” — add one more contradiction to the list. While he’s spent his whole career saying things that are arguably sexist, like “You wouldn’t have your job if you weren’t beautiful,” and things that are seemingly patronizing, like “I cherish women,” and “I will be phenomenal to the women,” Trump has consistently hired women for positions of real power in his organization and been darned proud of doing so.[/quote]
One reader comments:
[i]
Reading about Barbara Res, Trump’s construction manager “who was in charge of construction of Trump Tower and then the Plaza”, I thought about my father who spent 43 years as a construction project manager in the southern US (FL/SC/TN). In that time I’d never heard him mention a female manager, so I called him.

What he told me confirmed that female construction project managers were like narwhals: he’d heard of them, seen photos of them, but never actually seen one in person.

And Trump did that in the 80s? Quoting my father, “Well, that’s a hell of a thing.”[/i]