I just listened to Trump for an extended period

[Susan Calvin]

For what I think was my first time. He was making his statement about the trial this morning. I listened to the whole thing, I think it was about 20 or 25 minutes, until MSNBC put him in the background and started commenting.

Frankly, that stupid speech terrified me. Yes, you could pick it to pieces, and MSNBC is doing that right now. His brainwashed followers won't do that. His brainwashed followers will just take it all in and ruminate on it and quite possibly act on it, quite possibly in violent ways.

That's my take anyway. Probably people here have posted something like this before, but, as I said, this is my first experience listening to him unfiltered for an extended period, and, as I said, it terrified me.

[Eliot Rosewater]

1. The parts of the speech that terrified you are what attracts his followers

Without exaggeration there are 10s of millions of Americans who want us all dead or gone and I have said this for years now and I've gotten in trouble almost every time I said it, maybe I'll stop getting in trouble.

[Girard442]

6. I was raised in an Evangelical family and stood up for them over the years.

No more. They're bad people, full stop.

[Eliot Rosewater]

35. If they still support Trump then yes 100%

[Irish_Dem]

27. Eliot yes they would kill us all in our beds if they could.

I don't know why you get in trouble for speaking the truth.

[Eliot Rosewater]

34. The problem was, I started saying it before everyone around here

Was comfortable hearing it.

[Bobstandard]

38. Still not comfortable hearing it

Even though I agree and have felt the same way from the beginning I’m still freaked out by the dangerous prospect before us. I feel like I should be preparing somehow-beyond phone banking or meager donations-for what is to come.

I hate thinking like this but do I need to arm myself, stockpile food, plot a route to a neutral country? It’s that scary.

So don’t edit yourself on my behalf

[Irish_Dem]

54. Yes I have been thinking about plans too.

I have a multicultural/racial family and LGBT close relatives.
And some young women who hope to get pregnant in the next year or two.

I worry about all of them. I do better if I have plans in place in the event I need them.

So I have some ideas about what I could do if any of them come under attack or face danger.

I am also fortunate in that I can easily obtain an Irish passport if I need to do so,

[BlueKota]

57. I wish I could obtain an Irish or Italian passport

but I can't. My Irish great grandparents moved here before my grandparents were born and my Italian grandparents were naturalized in the U.S. before my Mom was born so I am out of luck.

My sister thinks we should stock up on house hold supplies, but don't what good that will do.

I still can't believe that he's announcing what he intends to do, but nobody is doing anything to stop him, except say let's try to beat him at the ballot box in November, but his Magats are already saying they will do anything they can to overturn the election even if Biden wins in a landslide?

Would our officials still just be crossing their fingers and hoping for the best if this was a foreign group making terroristic threats? Why are they willing to take the threat of internal terrorism so lightly?

[Irish_Dem]

59. Are you sure about the Italian passport?

With my Irish grandparents, the rule was only that they were born in Ireland.
Didn't matter if or when they became US citizens.

They were naturalized before they had all their children and many of my sibs and cousins have Irish passports.
Their children were dual citizens. Irish and American.

Grandchildren can become an Irish citizen by producing birth certificates for self, parent and grandparents.
No need to submit US naturalization date papers.

I don't think there is any benefit to stocking up on household goods.
Just depletes cash which may be needed.

My plans are more about getting pregnant relatives the medical care they need in an emergency or looking
at options if the racial and cultural attacks intensify.

Putin has been very clever. He knows that by installing his puppets into government they will be afforded
a great deal of respect and immunity. They can threaten every day to overthrow the government with no
consequences. IF he did it, there would be war against him.

Sociopaths often get others to commit crimes for them.

[BlueKota]

67. I just rechecked the information I found on line for dual passports for Italy and the

site said if my grandparents became naturalized in the U.S prior to Mom's birth. my mother would be disqualified from Italian citizenship because her parents were already naturalized U.S. citizens. Had they not been naturalized until after she would have qualified and so would my sister and I.

I accept the rules but it just seems like such a small technicality. I mean my DNA is Scottish, Irish, and Italian. The only ones who have North American ethnicity are the ones with Native American ancestry. My ethnicity itself didn't change because of man made laws.

I belong to those three countries by virtue of the blood that flows through me, that should matter more especially if assylum becomes necessary.

[Irish_Dem]

68. Yes I agree.

It should be more about where your grandparents were born.

[Wuddles440]

56. I've been prepping...

ever since he stole the election from Hillary and have continued doing so ever since. President Biden has offered some stability, but the coup is ongoing. Hoping for the best in November, but preparing for the worst case scenario.

[Irish_Dem]

50. The ability to connect dots quickly and well is a curse and blessing.

When you first start talking about what you are thinking, you get a lot of push back and negative feedback.
No one wants to hear it, they don't believe it.

Then when at long last people finally see it they pretend they knew it all along.

So you feel like you can't win.

I have been warning about the global autocratic bloc waging a war against the world democracies
for a couple of years now. No one wants to hear it or doesn't believe it. I have gotten a lot of pushback.
People underestimating China and Russia, etc.

I have also been warning for some time that Trump is a dangerous and clever sociopath.

The point I want to make is that you just have to keep going, speaking out.
You can't do it for accolades or getting your feathers rubbed, or any acknowledgement.
You just have to share what you see and hope it does some good.
The pushback is part of the price you pay for being ahead of the curve.

[Eliot Rosewater]

77. Dems MUST TALK NOW AND LOUDLY about this criminal...and they are NOT

Makes no sense, unless they think there is no threat from the fascists. DAMMIT

[Irish_Dem]

79. Deer in the headlights reaction going on?

I think some are like that.

But there are some pundits speaking out.

The other thing we cannot stop is human nature.
And that is the human tendency to learn things the hard way.

Sometimes there has to be a steep learning curve for things to sink it.

I study geopolitics quite a bit.
I have become quite philosophical about all of it.
I saw some years ago where it was all heading.

So all we can do is warn people and do our best.
Then we have to let the chips fall where they may.

We ride the tide of history like all generations before us.

[Eliot Rosewater]

80. Yes but now we will be imprisoned or deported or killed if the traitor takes over again.

Unless we give in and support him. North Korea is what he wants here, and Putin owns him so Putin gets our money and houses, etc.

Zero exaggeration here.

[shrike3]

73. You were right. n/t

[FHRRK]

64. I gave up on them in August of 2016

Any decent person had plenty of information by that point, yet still supported the Shitstain.

With that I was shocked again in 2020 when he got more votes, I expected about a million vote drop.

Never again, every trump voter and every Republican is a bad person, full fucking stop. For the 20 percent of Repubs that aren’t bat shit crazy, they can work toward forgiveness. The others have one path to redemption, never vote again, and shut the hell up.

And yes, there are some DUers who think we are wrong, we aren’t. Just like Germans in the 30s who called out Nazis, we are right.

And this from a retired, white, straight male. There is no working with these people.

[Girard442]

2. DU doesn't award Purple Hearts, but if they did, you should get one.

[dalton99a]

3. It is a message to his cult.

[Bayard]

4. Did you have to take vomit breaks?

[Susan Calvin]

7. No, I was too fascinated.

There's probably a better word for it, but I can't come up with it right now. It was like watching Hitler without knowing how the story comes out.

[Johonny]

5. The election will be won or lost

Not by the cult, but the marginal swing voters. The general idea is, the more insane he rants and the more boring Joe is, the more likely Biden will be attractive to them. It's the purple suburbs that left MAGA in 2018 and 2020. They drifted back slowly over the last 4 years. The more Trump reminds them how unstable he is, the better. At least, thats been the argument. I don't think there's any chance of Trump heading to the middle.

[intrepidity]

10. God I hope you are correct. nt

[Auggie]

37. +1

[LiberalFighter]

39. They are the key.

There are so many reasons why voters will not vote for Trump again.

Those reasons were not there for the 2020 election. They are now known to those voters.

[underpants]

41. Been saying that for a while.

By the end of the summer when a lot of people will really start tuning in, they are going to be aghast at what Trump has become.

I think a large enough (specific to certain states) number of Reagan Republicans and Reagan Democrats can’t stomach voting for a convicted felon either.

[UTUSN]

8. "extended" - being the same crap since 2015...

[LuckyCharms]

9. He terrified me long ago.

I look at things pretty simply.

My immunity is compromised. His handling of the Covid crisis has taken away 4 years of my life. I'm just now starting to try to live like a normal person again, instead of a shut-in.

His handling of Covid killed my brother. He died alone, in a nursing home, of Covid pneumonia.

He is responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths that did not have to happen.

He has the mindset of a toddler. He speaks and thinks like a young child.

He has no empathy, and no concept of basic decency.

He has politicized the wearing of a mask. He has spawned Q-Anon, that crazy making cult that has turned several friends and acquittances into mindless zombies.

He has unleased hatred against non-whites and non-Christians.

He is a terrifying individual, and the world will breathe a sigh of relief when he finally leaves this planet which has been diminished because of him.

[Susan Calvin]

12. Oh, I've been intellectually terrified for a very long time.

This was gut level.

[LuckyCharms]

13. His very existence seems surreal. n/t

[Susan Calvin]

15. Bingo. nt

[dalton99a]

16. +1. Trump is the most toxic and destructive character in recent American history

[LuckyCharms]

18. +1.

[LastDemocratInSC]

55. That weird hair-do on TSF is sculpted to cover the horns that have grown on his head.

[Towlie]

11. Muting doesn't even help because you still see all that crazy arm waving.

[intrepidity]

14. Same here.

I steeled myself and listened to the whole thing.

Not only revolting, but tremendously upsetting knowing that other people hear this and approve. Makes me want to divorce from the human race.

What to do, though? Just not listen? Pretend it all does not exist?

[Susan Calvin]

19. I'm glad I listened.

I think I have a better understanding of what he's doing and why some people buy it.

And the importance of teaching critical thinking if we want to avoid things like the mess we're in now. I could see exactly why people would buy what he was selling if they just swallowed it whole.

[dalton99a]

20. +1. It is useful to know your enemy.

[LiberalFighter]

44. I believe that if marginal voters hear it they will turn from him.

[bif]

17. I'd rather be waterboarded.

[lpbk2713]

21. I tuned in to MSNBC while the commentary was going on.

The disgraced former president was muted in the background while he was addressing a crowd.

It looked like he was playing an air accordion. It was really funny. He looked ridiculous.

[Susan Calvin]

22. His followers aren't going to see it that way.

I feel like I got kind of a look through their eyes. As I said, it was terrifying.

[AnotherMother4Peace]

23. The more I listened the more he reminded me of Charlie Manson when he gave

an interview from prison.

Manson: "I went to Hollywood, everyone said "wow, who is this guy". Yeah I surfed. I surfed with the best of them, but it wasn't for me."

Trump: "I wanted to testify and I still do, but any mistake I make they'll get me. It's a fascist state, blah blah"

All paraphrased, and all lies.

[global1]

24. I Was Thinking To Myself And Laughing - That It Would Be Funny If......

a couple of grammar school kids would open up a "Kool-Aid" stand somewhere in that crowd.

The thought just struck me funny!!!!

[Irish_Dem]

25. Trump is deliberately inciting violence.

And damaging American institutions.

He is dangerous and won't stop.

Yes it is terrifying.

[Traildogbob]

26. We have known for a long

Time he will demand his cult to draw blood. I say why wait, let em come out and be met with what Joe is allowed to do to protect the citizens from terror attacks right here.
It was gonna happen after November or after the Next Jan 6.
Sick of 7 years of threats. Time to face them toe to toe and end this sick nightmare.
Why let it fester. Time for them to FIND out after all the Fuckin Around they have been doing.
And when it starts, no immunity for the traitorous suits like Jordan, MTG et al. Clean the shit out of the stalls before insects and diseases spread any more.
Get these mother fuckers out of OUR HOUSE as their headquarters to end our democracy.

[FakeNoose]

28. That's how he talked when he was president too

But the news media has always edited him and created short soundbites to make him sound articulate. The guy can't even finish one sentence without sounding like a total goofball. I hope the news organizations are going to stop doing all that editing, and let people hear how nuts he really is. Why didn't they start sooner?

[republianmushroom]

29. And he is showing so much remorse for committing these crimes. Yup so remorseful.

[mobeau69]

30. Stochastic terrorism plain and simple.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

31. I also watched TFG until MSNBC cut him off

TFG has declined and is not competent to be POTUS. There is no way that TFG will show up for any debates. The man can not form a coherent sentence to save his life

[Dixc]

53. That WAS his debate

[MiHale]

32. I read this Slate article this morning...

Give you insight into his methods of communication. You went through a lot today with listening to that. Read it later. Admittedly I watched the first season of The Apprentice and I remembered some of the show. It’s amazing what he learned to do by hosting a reality show. It shows now.

https://slate.com/culture/2024/05/donald-trump-news-2024-trial-verdict-apprentice.html

[FakeNoose]

51. Yes this actually came out yesterday

Several of us were discussing this article in Slate. There's also a podcast and you can read or listen to the transcript of what was discussed.

I remember when Tony Schwartz - the true author of "The Art of the Deal" - finally was able to talk and write about Chump when his NDA expired. It was just before the 2016 election. Not many of Chump's former employees and associates have ever dared to spill the beans on him - only Tony Schwartz, Michael Cohen, and now this guy Bill Pruitt who was a producer on The Apprentice. (Plus one or two others.)

Chump has these people terrified of speaking out and telling the truth about him, all of the terrible (not to mention illegal) things he has said and done over the years. I really hope that's going to end as more of the NDAs are expiring. Everyone who worked in his New Jersey casinos - why aren't they talking? That was all more than 30 years ago, and I'm sure he broke a shit-ton of state gambling laws while he ran those casinos. The employees who worked on the Miss Universe pageant, the employees who helped run his hotels, condos, the golf resorts, they ALL KNOW STUFF about him and his evil ways.

It's all going to snowball, and I hope it happens very soon!

[MiHale]

72. I'm hoping now that people see his veneer has peeled back...

And you can see his vulnerabilities it all comes crashing down.

[Susan Calvin]

63. Thank you.

I started reading it and stopped dead at the paragraph about changing your map of reality. That is exactly what those 20 or 25 minutes did to me.

[Emile]

33. The judge needs to order his arrest!

[LetMyPeopleVote]

36. The Biden Campaign agrees with this thread about TFG's unhinged speech

Link to tweet

[larwdem]

45. Good response

[LetMyPeopleVote]

47. Here is an update to the prior post

Link to tweet

[Susan Calvin]

60. I was already angry. I'm still angry.

I will continue to be angry. But I feel like I saw him through the eyes of his supporters, and I got a gut feeling for them I just haven't had before. That's what was terrifying.

[Susan Calvin]

66. Nobody asked you to.

I'm simply describing my reaction to my first extended unfiltered exposure to him. It gave me what I believe is a correct gut feeling for his supporters, as opposed to just intellectual, which was what I had before. Somewhere in this thread I was referred to a recent article by a producer of his reality show, which I never watched and I'm not going to. But it described what I saw this morning. Maybe I would have had the gut reaction sooner if I'd ever watched that show. Probably.

[Susan Calvin]

71. I found it instructional.

I kind of wish I had done it before, unpleasant as it was.

[Susan Calvin]

75. .

[FoxNewsSucks]

42. I had the tv on and heard most of it.

Scary thing is that as bad as it was, that was one of the disgraced convicted felon and adjudication rapist's more coherent spewings.

And the cult loved every word

[bigtree]

43. we've always assumed that someone else was protecting and defending our democracy

...maybe the government, or politicians as we've parried our interests and views against those.

It can seem daunting to recognize that we are the ultimate protectors and defenders of it all, and that there are people who don't share our interest in preserving it working to end democracy in favor of a free-for-all where powerful and monyed interests control what we think and do.

I don't mean to say that you are naive, rather, the stakes have never been higher, because so many have succeeded in questioning precepts which have been developed and established by generations and generations.

What I find concerning is the number of people who aren't pushing back against those destructive interests, not so much that they exist. As I told a poster recently, my life has been at odds with American society (and government at the start) since birth because of the shade of my skin.

I'm not as much in fear of the challenge as I'm in earnest for people who disagree with the republican dismantling of those precepts to confront and shame these anti-American forces back into remission.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

46. 'Usual whining and lying': Trump speaks out at Trump Tower after felony conviction

[wryter2000]

48. Individuals may act out violently

I doubt there will be another uprising. So many of the perpetrators are in prison, which has to be a deterrent.

There was a lot of buzz about mass action before J6. Unless we hear that sort of buzz again, that won't likely happen.

But I hope to God the names of the jurors never get out.

[MorbidButterflyTat]

49. What is it that terrifies you?

There's nothing new here. He's toast and he knows it. Someone in his stupid cult may do something stupid but he's not commander in chief, he has no power, and lots of idiots who ruined their lives for him January 6 are rotting in prison, losing their law licenses and getting sued (and losing), and/or are unemployable outcasts.

He's an impotent frightened old man. Don't wallow in his many grievances.

Instead of wasting time listening to his broken record bullshit, pay attention to President Biden and Dems who are making a difference for Americans.

[Susan Calvin]

61. I am paying attention. I have been paying attention.

I will continue to pay attention. But this particular thing kicked me into what I imagine is the mindset of his supporters. I hadn't really got that on a gut level before.

[BlueKota]

70. If it were just him

I probably wouldn't be terrified. What terrifies me more is the number of people who share his ideology, to whom other people's lives and rights mean nothing. .

Maybe that wouldn't be scary either if they were just a bunch of arm chair warriors sitting and scratching their sizeable butts making meaningless threats. That's not the case though. There are people in postions of power, in the military,the congress, and even more frightening the Supreme Court, who are of the same ilk as he is, and have the ability to do for him what he can't do for himself?

That's what scares me the most, along with many on our sides refusal to accept that the Republicans are aleady no longer playing by the rules of the game, and we need to have a backup plan to deal with their lawlessness, if they keep escalating it to a point that endangers the rest of us.

[NBachers]

52. I keep referring back to film clips of Hitler & Mussolini; or Castro broadcasting his diatribes throughout Havana.

[Susan Calvin]

62. Yes. nt

[GreenWave]

58. Convicted felons should not get free air time!

[Susan Calvin]

76. I hadn't realized just how much of a disservice

The media has done to the American people. I'm not saying I don't know the media is messed up. I do. I'm not saying I don't know Trump and his followers are messed up. I do. But it's kind of appalling that this is the first opportunity I had to get the shock to my system that this gave me.

[RainCaster]

78. I remember listening to Radio Havanna every winter as a boy

The shortwave radio in our shed could bring in some far away stuff back then. It was interesting to listen to viewpoints from far away places.

All the bullshit about how communism was so much better than Democracy. It sounded so good, until I asked my dad about it. Once he explained the reality of fascism, I knew I was in the right country. Now we have the same shit being spewed by someone here in America who is only out for Him Self. TSF is repeating what Putin tells him to. "Radio Moscow", if you will.