Tom Bantle

Crazy for Cornell Hockey & Lacrosse; Perpetually Depressed about Intolerance, Injustice, Ignorance

[Tom Bantle @tombantle]

Given X's owner, Elon Musk's admission that his commercial interests outweigh his alleged allegiance to free speech (see India, Turkey, Ukraine), I no longer wish to bolster his commercial interests. My last post.

[Tom Bantle @tombantle]

@JC08836664 @CrystalMcGee311 @gizmothegrrreat @BarackObama No you're on something. You wouldn't know the truth if it bit you.

[WSJ Live Journalism @WSJLive]

27 weeks. That’s how long our friend and colleague @EvanGershkovich has spent in a Russian prison, unjustly detained. We call for his immediate release. #IStandWithEvan #journalismisnotacrime

https://t.co/NOM8312V71

[Warren Strobel @wstrobel]

27 weeks too many. #IStandWithEvan

[Tom Bantle @tombantle]

Evan Gershkovich, Wall Street Journal reporter, has been held captive in Russia for more than half a year. #IStandWithEvan #FreeEvanGershkovich #FreePress

[Tom Bantle @tombantle]

It's not too soon to start #FlippingTheHouse. Five districts in NYS alone are toss-ups. Join me in supporting @JoshRileyUE via @actblue https://t.co/ZQfK610vtF

[Tom Bantle @tombantle]

Fu______ Unbelievable. Thomas's flipflop on Chevron surely influenced by this hobnobbing with anti-regulationists.😵‍💫

Clarence Thomas Secretly Participated in Koch Network Donor Events https://t.co/fqv82h4dyt

[Tom Bantle @tombantle]

@segergabriel Congratulations on your selection as Alternate Captain! #LetsGoRed #YellCornell

[Tom Bantle @tombantle]

@jack7oleary Congratulations on being chosen Alternate Captain. #LetsGoRed #YellCornell

[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

[Tom Bantle @tombantle]

@FreeGershkovich We're still standing with you. Be strong.

[ECAC Hockey @ecachockey]

Future @CornellMHockey student-athlete Jonathan Castagna hears his name called at the @NHL draft!

The 70th overall pick is officially a member of the @ArizonaCoyotes organization!

#ECACHockey

[Cornell Men’s Ice Hockey @CornellMHockey]

Another one!

Congrats to incoming first year defenseman Hoyt Stanley on his selection by the @Senators in the 2023 @NHL Draft!

#ProRed

[Cornell Men’s Ice Hockey @CornellMHockey]

Incoming Big Red first years are having a great day at the 2023 @NHL draft!

Ryan Walsh goes at pick 188 in Round 6 to the @NHLBruins!

#ProRed

[Tom Bantle @tombantle]

@paulacweston If that's pure Michigan, I'll stay away.

[David Hogg 🟧 @davidhogg111]

Other countries have mentally ill people.
Other countries have criminals.
Only in America is it this easy to get a gun.

[Tom Bantle @tombantle]

@KenPaxtonTX You are covered in blood. Shame.

[BurnPitsKillWarFighters🟧🟦🇺🇸🏳️‍🌈🇺🇦🐕‍🦺 @SusanZeier]

@GurufocusC @RepKeithSelf If you support and fund raise for pro open slaughter republicans then you are complicit to mass murders.

[Tom Bantle @tombantle]

@RepKeithSelf This blood is on your hands. "The immediate aftermath is not the time for politics.” No, the time for politics was before it happened, again and again. Shame on you.