25 Comments
User's avatar
BrandoG's avatar

Isnt there room for someone who can be “real”—that is have human reactions to things rather than overly guarded, prepared statements that ran through a team of advisers—but without being a sick, mentally unstable freak? I don’t admire anything about Trump as those two assholes apparently do (wait til Keystone Lurch finds out what Trump says about him and his wife) but Trump did show us that voters are tired of politicians who always sound like they checked with their team before expressing their thoughts on something. (Yes you do want a leader to talk to advisers before going off half cocked when it’s a complicated issue, but we also want to see what they THINK on their own from time to time).

Sun's avatar
3hEdited

‘Honesty’? I do not think that word means what Maher thinks it means.

Furiouser and Furiouser's avatar

This is the definition of a first-world problem, but I get irritated because every time I watch John Oliver, when it’s over HBO decides I want to watch Bill Maher and starts playing it automatically. Just that insipid intro music makes me furious. I haven’t watched that self-indulgent, arrogant woman-hater for at least 10 years, maybe longer. Fix your algorithm, HBO.

Lupatrian's avatar

Our entire federal government, all branches, are presently unconstitutional/in violation of the Constitution. Can we therefore fall back to state constitutions? The Federal Constitution gives states a great deal of autonomy to protect the Republic. Because of our unprecedented situation, this may fit within the constitutional framework.

Linda1961 is proudly woke's avatar

Interesting that trump's admirers never address his clearly thin skin. trump can dish it out, but never take it. Or maybe they consider his whining when others tell the truth about him part of his "refreshing honesty."

KO in LA's avatar

After some transgression as a kid, I remember my mother explaining to my sister and me that there was a good angel on one shoulder urging us toward good and a bad angel on the other shoulder tempting us toward bad. The Trump lovers are on team Bad Angel, and are gleefully celebrating its unleashed freedom.

Sherry's avatar

“Wow, total honesty.” = Them being forgiven for being misogynistic assholes. No you can’t say the word retard or pussy in politics or polite society. Just go ahead and show what a real POS you are and freely the N word. Is that the next move there?

I’m sorry I gave $$ to Fetterman’s campaign. Not sorry that I never watched the smug asshole Maher.

Old Man Shadow's avatar

I think are certain men who internalized that masculinity and manhood required bullying. Bullying wasn't cruelty in this mindset, but necessary 'tough love' to toughen up the weak and teach boys how to become men. Bullying was strength. It was toughness. It was love.

Being strong was not seen as lifting people up, pulling them up the cliff, but berating that they couldn't make the climb on their own, that they were weak and needed to work harder. Sure the person thinking this was probably born on top of the cliff, but that was hard work.

And some (mostly guys, but some women) can't get that mindset out of their noggins. They can't see strength was helping others. It has to be posing, bullying, intimidation.

And they hate the idea that manhood doesn't require this bullying, posturing, weak kid acting what he thinks is strong routine. Without it, they feel feminized (and to this group of guys, there is nothing more terrifying and icky than perceived feminine qualities.)

Guys like Fetterman and Maher are a lost cause. Vote him out. Tune him out.

SethTriggs's avatar

There's a lot of money and clout in being professionally credulous. Really the incentive structure for people to fete America's Pilonidal Cyst—even though like everyone he will eventually betray them—is too strong.

Stephen Bero's avatar

The Internet boosted the phenomenon known as the "moral holiday," of which Stevenson's novella is a dramatic example. From the Internet, the moral holiday spilled into real life, where it is now no longer a "holiday" but an everyday occurrence, sad to say.

Pope Buck I's avatar

There is ALWAYS airtime on US media for (putative) Democrats who spend all their time and energy attacking Democrats. Bill Maher himself is Exhibit A.

belfryo's avatar

“We can say ‘retard’ and ‘pussy’ without the fear of getting cancelled . . . it’s a new dawn.”

This is one of the most fascinatingly revealing insights into the right wing mind...This weird notion of 'permission'...what are they? goddamned children?

Fluttbucker's avatar

Now I'm sad about a missed opportunity.

My sainted Ma passed away in 2011.

Thus, I couldn't phone her on Mother's Day and scream, 'FUCK YOU! I WON'T PICK UP MY ROOM AND YOU CAN'T MAKE ME!"

SethTriggs's avatar

Very bigoted children indeed. But they have the remit of the unreconstructed and thus what they do gets wide deference.

Myra Donnelley's avatar

Yes.

belfryo's avatar

"is that Henry Jekyll is not in fact a good person who has become the victim of his villainous alter ego, Edward Hyde. The potion Dr. Jekyll takes doesn’t “unleash” his evil side. It merely changes his physical appearance, so he is free to commit all sorts of horrible acts without facing any legal or reputational consequence."

this is how ignorant I am..I did NOT know this! Never read it unfortunately...But I ALWAYS thought that 'Jekyll' (that reads like Jackal) was a weird name for the 'good guy' in the equation!

I learned something new today! Huzzah

Pope Buck I's avatar

The 1932 Fredric March version makes it pretty clear that Jekyll is the outward face of a "respectable" Victorian gentleman, while Hyde is everything he gets up to after dark.

Frank Talk, Action Pundit!'s avatar

Cowards and cultists all.

Richard Von Busack's avatar

"professional comedians whose entire brand is “anti-woke,” “anti-feminist” bro humor"--don't know if you're a watcher of Hacks, but there's an episode where the Joan Rivers-like Debbie Vance whips out her purse and gives one of these lame-os a million dollars upon the legally enforceable promise to never perform again--"I can't get rid of all of them, but I can get rid of one of them."

Linda1961 is proudly woke's avatar

Just because someone says things without any filters, things that are offensive, does not mean that they are authentic. If what they say is how they really think and feel, then sure, they are being authentic. But it doesn't make them fit to be POTUS, or in any position of authority. However, if they are just saying those things to get a reaction, they are not being authentic. Maher is a dumbass.