Gratuitous Fascism

[aggienaut]

   Some updates on yesterday's incident at the White House. First of all, as Stephen Colbert points out in the below clip, you can actually HEAR the flashbangs or teargas in the background as Trump is making his creepy speech:

   It's subtle but it's definitely there. That's really creepy. That really makes it like a war zone or like "Baghdad Bob's" humorous newscasts from Baghdad denying the collapse of the regime around him.

   Also not only did Trump clear protestors away from in fornt of the church, there were actually several priests / deacons / church staff that had been on the steps handing waterbottles and things to protestors who were also chased off. He chased the priests out of the church so he could go stand in front of it and pretend to be the uberchristian!!

   I do think all in all it has been so roundly condemned that it must be clear even to him that this was an enormous PR gaffe. I haven't heard a thing from or about Trump today so maybe he really does realze he's just made it worse??

   Also Australia got a big steamy serving of the news live -- apparently an Australian news channel was broadcasting live at time time, as Aussies across the nation watched the news while eating their vegemite-on-toast, they witness the Australian new team get brutally attacked by the police -- an unprovoked smashing with a riot shield followed by a punch in the guts. The Australian government and embassy are demanding an apology and investigation, so now it's an international incident on top of everything else.

   Speaking of embassy news, someone in the Americans in Australia group today shared a screenshot of a message from the United States Mission to Australia which basically said, if one doesn't get out on either a flight out of Melbourne on June 5th or a flight out of Brisbane on June 6th, you must be prepared to stay in Australia indefinitely. It rather reminds me of the rescript of Honorius.


   And here's another gratuitously fascist-looking photo.

Comments

[ravenfeather.livejournal.com]

He doesn't realize a damn thing negative about anything he does. He thinks the whole world is stupid.

[bleodswean.livejournal.com]

LOL. You would prefer national monuments to be defaced?

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

I very sincerely doubt any protesters were about to deface the Lincoln monument. Even if they did somehow feel there was a credible threat by one or two hooligans who I don't know, how would oyu even harm it? were threatening to throw paint at it? they could probably be handled ni a more effectie way than loading up the steps with an entire platoon of troops

[bleodswean.livejournal.com]

Then you haven't been paying attention. They are armed with hammers and palettes of bricks. They believe they are bringing down monuments that glorify.....something or other. Veteran cemeteries and monuments have been defaced in my own small cowtown these past few days.

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

Even if they did have a legitimate need to protect the memorial, there's significantly better ways of doing it than plastering the entire steps with military... like the more normal forming-a-line-in-front method. I'm not sure what the troops behind the first line might accomplish by being there. I think like this clearly looks like it was arranged more for the appearance of "military dominance" than for practical protection necessities.

[bleodswean.livejournal.com]

Again, we must be seeing different tapes. They tried a single, spaced line of secret service over in front of the White House and 60 officers were injured by projectiles. I saw this in live time at midnight Friday.

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

That was unfortunate but how would this be more effective. Instead of police with riot gear and shields standing close enough together to offer mutual support, here we see soldiers without solid face protection or riot shields standing far enough apart to be unable to mutually suport eachother, and gaps big enough to run through. Yes there are crowd control challenges in Washington and around the country but and I'm not disputing this, what I'm saying is what we see in this picture looks counterproductive to me and not geared maximally towards effective crowd control.

[bleodswean.livejournal.com]

I think it’s a visual deterrent. Vandals and looters are so cowardly. To me it looks hugely effective, without involving a police force which seems to be inflammatory at this time.

[nick-101.livejournal.com]

45* is evil. Let's hope America gets their sanity back in November.

[wantedonvoyage.livejournal.com]

I do think all in all it has been so roundly condemned that it must be clear even to him that this was an enormous PR gaffe. I haven't heard a thing from or about Trump today so maybe he really does realze he's just made it worse??

As if! The next day he went and did the same thing at a Catholic shrine (minus the tear gas, as they were expecting him) controlled by his buddy at the Knights of Columbus.

[belleweather.livejournal.com]

Yeah, eventually we have to stop doing repatriation flights and eventually is like... soon. If you want USG assistance, get on one. Otherwise, I think it's legitimate to ask why you suddenly have an emergency need to leave the country and didn't sort that out in the THREE MONTHS we've been doing an unprecedented evacuation (and telling people to leave, or be prepared to stay.)

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

oh I'm not criticizing the USG response so much as I think it's a sign of the times. Like, we thought things would be clearing up after a few months, but reference to "indefinite" duration is really ominous.

Also personally I am not going to leave tomorrow, but my visa here is still in question and if they really don't make any exceptions and it can't be renewed in October I guess I'll be finding my own way home.

[ryl.livejournal.com]

Is that the Lincoln Memorial? What the fuck? Glad I got to go to DC when I did.

[wpadmirer.livejournal.com]

WTF?! I do not understand what the fuck our government is doing.

[springheel-jack.livejournal.com]

There's really no such thing as a Trump PR gaffe. The evangelicals lapped it up. Nobody else mattered.

[iddewes]

Arg, I hope someone has made Trump realise that was a terrible idea. I hadn’t heard about the Australians!
And, that last bit - how can they do something like that? You’re citizens, you should always be allowed back in! That’s crazy.

[picosgemeos.livejournal.com]

I've read some reports of evangelicals in America supporting Trump. The insanity is real and beyond stopping now.