Jim Vendel

Woke mob antifa sasquash. If you're not helping, you're not helping💚

[Jim Vendel @jvendel]

@mehdirhasan @AWeissmann_ @VivekGRamaswamy So. Many. Words. 💩

[Jim Vendel @jvendel]

“…a Picasso of pettiness; a Shakespeare of shit…”

[CALL TO ACTIVISM @CalltoActivism]

A British writer penned the best description of Donald Trump I’ve ever read:

“Why do some British people not like Donald Trump?”

A few things spring to mind. Trump lacks certain qualities which the British traditionally esteem. For instance, he has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honour and no grace – all qualities, funnily enough, with which his predecessor Mr. Obama was generously blessed. So for us, the stark contrast does rather throw Trump’s limitations into embarrassingly sharp relief.

Plus, we like a laugh. And while Trump may be laughable, he has never once said anything wry, witty or even faintly amusing – not once, ever. I don’t say that rhetorically, I mean it quite literally: not once, not ever. And that fact is particularly disturbing to the British sensibility – for us, to lack humour is almost inhuman. But with Trump, it’s a fact. He doesn’t even seem to understand what a joke is – his idea of a joke is a crass comment, an illiterate insult, a casual act of cruelty.

Trump is a troll. And like all trolls, he is never funny and he never laughs; he only crows or jeers. And scarily, he doesn’t just talk in crude, witless insults – he actually thinks in them. His mind is a simple bot-like algorithm of petty prejudices and knee-jerk nastiness.

There is never any under-layer of irony, complexity, nuance or depth. It’s all surface. Some Americans might see this as refreshingly upfront. Well, we don’t. We see it as having no inner world, no soul. And in Britain we traditionally side with David, not Goliath. All our heroes are plucky underdogs: Robin Hood, Dick Whittington, Oliver Twist. Trump is neither plucky, nor an underdog. He is the exact opposite of that. He’s not even a spoiled rich-boy, or a greedy fat-cat. He’s more a fat white slug. A Jabba the Hutt of privilege.

And worse, he is that most unforgivable of all things to the British: a bully. That is, except when he is among bullies; then he suddenly transforms into a snivelling sidekick instead. There are unspoken rules to this stuff – the Queensberry rules of basic decency – and he breaks them all. He punches downwards – which a gentleman should, would, could never do – and every blow he aims is below the belt. He particularly likes to kick the vulnerable or voiceless – and he kicks them when they are down.

So the fact that a significant minority – perhaps a third – of Americans look at what he does, listen to what he says, and then think ‘Yeah, he seems like my kind of guy’ is a matter of some confusion and no little distress to British people, given that:

• Americans are supposed to be nicer than us, and mostly are.

• You don’t need a particularly keen eye for detail to spot a few flaws in the man.

This last point is what especially confuses and dismays British people, and many other people too; his faults seem pretty bloody hard to miss. After all, it’s impossible to read a single tweet, or hear him speak a sentence or two, without staring deep into the abyss. He turns being artless into an art form; he is a Picasso of pettiness; a Shakespeare of shit. His faults are fractal: even his flaws have flaws, and so on ad infinitum. God knows there have always been stupid people in the world, and plenty of nasty people too. But rarely has stupidity been so nasty, or nastiness so stupid. He makes Nixon look trustworthy and George W look smart. In fact, if Frankenstein decided to make a monster assembled entirely from human flaws – he would make a Trump.

And a remorseful Doctor Frankenstein would clutch out big clumpfuls of hair and scream in anguish: ‘My God… what… have… I… created?' If being a twat was a TV show, Trump would be the boxed set.”

-Nate White

[Jim Vendel @jvendel]

Whoo hoo! It’s Thursday! Happy Surrender Day, Everyone!

[Judd Legum @JuddLegum]

1. @washingtonpost, @axios, @cnn, and @nytimes are all "reporting" that, to convict Trump, Jack Smith has to prove Trump knew he was lying about the 2020 election

Trump's lawyer is saying the same thing. And so is Fox.

The problem with this analysis is it's completely wrong

🧵

[martin grasser @martingrasser]

We liked using a circles to construct our drawings, it felt like the bird should have an underlying neutrality and simplicity about it

[The Intellectualist @highbrow_nobrow]

Former conservative Chief Justice of SCOTUS, Warren Burger:

The 2nd Amendment "has been the subject of one of the greatest pieces of fraud, I repeat the word fraud, on the American public by special interest groups that I have ever seen in my lifetime".

[The White House 46 Archived @WhiteHouse46]

Junk “short-term” health insurance plans leave families saddled with thousands of dollars in medical bills.

This Administration is issuing a new proposed rule that would close the loopholes these companies use to exploit Americans.

[Acyn @Acyn]

Cardona: Markwayne Mullin had more than $1.4 million in pandemic loans forgiven. He represents 489,000 eligible borrowers that were turned down today. Marjorie Taylor Greene had more than $180,000 forgiven. She represents 91,800 eligible borrowers who were turned down today

[Jim Vendel @jvendel]

@RobbieFulks @thebartlettarb I love how you are single-handedly going around the country breathing new life into the Twitter accounts of great venues that haven’t been able to update their Twitter feed since the last decade😁Have a great show!

[Tom Morello @tmorello]

Fixed it! Happy Pride y’all!

[The White House 46 Archived @WhiteHouse46]

Happening Now: President Biden announces his intent to nominate General Charles Q. Brown, Jr. to serve as the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. https://t.co/5uJw87Nxt0

[The White House 46 Archived @WhiteHouse46]

Airports are getting refreshed across the country under @POTUS' Bipartisan Infrastructure Law:
✈️$62M for improvements at Boston Logan International
✈️$69M for terminal expansion projects at Orlando International
✈️$60M for runway reconstruction at Denver International

[Andrew Kimmel @andrewkimmel]

Shame on CNN for platforming this treasonous fascist.

[Jim Vendel @jvendel]

@RobbieFulks Looking forward to seeing your live show for the first time!

[Jim Vendel @jvendel]

@MuellerSheWrote A “judge” with demonstrably no ability to do so. Disgrace.

[Jim Vendel @jvendel]

@Principal_Coop @danatmomof3 @NorthgateHS @MtDiabloUSD Amazing news, Congratulations!

[Katie Phang @KatiePhang]

We are way past the time for an investigation into Clarence AND Ginni Thomas.

[The New Republic @newrepublic]

The reality is that there are 400 million unregistered guns in this country, and 20 million of them are AR-15s. That’s more guns than are possessed by the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, and police departments combined.
https://t.co/VmHNZ4fwVr

[Thomas Kennedy @tomaskenn]

Watch this heartfelt testimony from a father asking Republican lawmakers in Florida to not vote to ban gender affirming care.

“When I look at my kid, alI see is just a happy teenager and that’s all I want for my kid.”

[Jim Vendel @jvendel]

@925mlbfan Classic images. No better place to be today