Courtesy of the AV Club:
With the chaos at the Trump White House mounting every single day to what seems like an inevitable flashpoint involving a constitutional crisis, impeachment, indictment, diversionary declaration of war, or simply a White House staffed with no one but Trump relatives and their wedding planners, it’s tempting to look ahead to the theoretically more stable prospect of President Mike Pence. But, as John Oliver lays out in the main story of Sunday’s Last Week Tonight, be very fucking careful what you wish for.
Oliver, calling Pence “the opposite of whatever a silver fox is” (settling on “ashen weasel”), takes a hard, typically incisive and hilariously pissed off look at exactly how extreme the positions of the (current) Vice President are. From his vocal opposition to women in the military, his prayer-based non-response to an HIV outbreak in Indiana when he was governor, to his ongoing abetting and excusing of literally every ignorant, hateful, or outright lunatic and untrue thing that dribbles out of his boss’ mouth, Oliver presents a portrait of a man whose outward appearance of un-Trump-ian sanity barely conceals the frothing, right wing loon within. Especially when it comes to the LGBTQ community, where Pence’s long history of bigotry includes overt, verifiable support of one James Dobson and the organization Focus on the Family, your go-to zealots for “shock ‘em ‘til they’re not gay anymore” “conversion therapy.”
Of course the point Oliver is trying to make is that Mike Pence is a fucking three car pile up, which we all seem completely oblivious to because he is always standing next to the human train wreck.
Look I want Trump out of office at least as much as the next guy, probably more actually, but if we take him out and leave Pence in place we may simply find ourselves exchanging one walking nightmare for another.
Update: So apparently John Oliver's bunny book is outselling Mike Pence's bunny book.
Courtesy of The Daily Beast:
On Sunday night John Oliver announced on HBO’s Last Week Tonight that A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo, a children’s book about a gay bunny, named after a pet rabbit owned by the family of Vice President Mike Pence, would be available immediately. That meant it beat a rival children’s book, Marlon Bundo’s Day in the Life of the Vice President, written by Pence’s daughter, Charlotte, and illustrated by his wife, Karen, by mere hours to the digital shelves.
As of Monday afternoon, Last Week Tonight’s book—which was written by Jill Twiss and illustrated by E.G. Keller, an artist from Pence’s home state of Indiana—was the No. 1 seller on Amazon, with the Pences’ book lagging noticeably behind at No. 6. With over 1,200 user reviews by that time, the Last Week Tonight book earned a rare five-star rating. The Pences’ effort had less than 50 reviews, and a woeful one-and-a-half-star rating.
I swear John Oliver is a national treasure.
Ain’t nuthin’ poor about Pence.
ReplyDeleteIndiana was glad to be rid of him.
Someone said he and Karen go to IHOP and arrange the sausages on their plates like penises.
ReplyDeleteDoesn't sound very christian.
Correction - sounds extremely christian.
What's the alternative? McTurtle? Lyin' Ryan? We are well and truly f***ed if that's our only men/women available.
ReplyDeleteTHIS. I've actually been saying this from the start. Trump is horrible, but Pence/Ryan would be possibly worse and definitely more capable of enacting their ugliness than Drumph's chaos approach allows.
DeleteFirst, you'd have to take back the House to eliminate Ryan as speaker of the House. Then you'd have to take out both Trump and Pence at the same time so that Pence wouldn't become president long enough to appoint a vice president. Because you know it would be someone even WORSE than Pence, Ryan or Trump.
DeleteIn the end the best we can hope for is to take both the House and Senate to obstruct Trump as much as possible.
What is extremely dangerous now is the Supreme Court. If Kennedy or Ginsburg die or retire, Trump would be nominating another justice. That would be a Deplorable 6-3 majority for decades. Really, really, REALLY bad.
Yay! Another school shooting today. Thoughts and prayers everyone!
ReplyDeleteWill 2020 be another shitshow of impossible choices?
ReplyDeleteWhy it's so important that everyone vote. And bring your relatives and neighbors to vote (but not if they're voting R, then let them call a cab.). And, as my 97 year old mom says, "Vote Democratic, early and often"
ReplyDeleteWho writes the code for the RFID chips that they insert into Sarah Huckabee sanders' skull?
ReplyDeleteJohn Oliver's book number one ranking on Amazon does not include the boxes of books his staff delivered to the audience members.
ReplyDeleteGrin, Wild Tortoise
Over 3,300 reviews with 95% being five stars, 4% one star but even some of those are positives if you read them. "I was promised if I read this book and it would turn me gay but I'm still a heterosexual and boring."
DeletePence's book has only 70 reviews with an 86% 5 star, 10% one star.
Then negatives on the Pence book mostly talk about washed out illustrations and boring story that doesn't keep children's attention.
and this:
"I also found out on the radio this afternoon that the book is closely associated with a company that believes gay children should be sent to special camps to force them to live in self-hate, and they even support legislation that would allow private companies and the military to fire someone just for being gay. Seriously, Google it. I couldn’t believe it either. As a Christian, I was mortified that I had accidentally supported that kind of intolerance. As a shopper, I felt betrayed that they sold me a wolf in bunny’s clothing. As an adult, I am annoyed that the authors put their politics into our young people’s reading."
So those attacking Oliver for politicizing his child's bunny book can counter with Pence using his kid's book to fund his fundie torture techniques.
OUR COLOPHON 'BRAINWHITEWASH' @11:16
DeleteRegnery Publishing’s logo is the Porta Nigra, a Roman gate located in Trier, Germany. Wilhelm Regnery, a winemaker from near Trier, immigrated to the United States in the 1870s. When his grandson, Henry, founded a publishing company, he chose the massive Roman gate as the company’s trademark–to honor his heritage and to represent the passage from the uncivilized world of ignorance into an enlightened civilization."
" Our children’s imprint, Regnery Kids, provides charming stories and beautiful illustrations while teaching children about history, science, and culture. Our children’s publishing program also includes Little Patriot Press, a series of educational books for young readers."
http://www.eaglepub.com/regnery-publishing/
"In 1993, Regnery Publishing became part of Eagle Publishing. Since then, Regnery has led the resurgence of conservative publishing in America. Our list of authors reads like a “who’s who” of conservative thought and action, including Ann Coulter, Steve Forbes, David Limbaugh, Michelle Malkin, Dinesh D’Souza, Newt Gingrich, Mark Steyn, Mark Levin, Ed Klein, David Horowitz, Laura Ingraham, Mark Skousen, Donald Trump, and many more. For the past 15 years, Regnery has boasted one of the best batting averages in the business–placing more than fifty books on the New York Times bestseller list, including nine books at #1."
"The Swift Boat veteran’s blockbuster book Unfit for Command rocketed to the top of the best seller lists in 2004 and was a key factor in defeating John Kerry’s White House bid."
Not only that, but the audible version has quite a few top name stars doing the voices: Jim Parsons, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Jeff Garlin, Ellie Kemper, John Lithgow, Jack McBrayer, and RuPaul.
ReplyDeleteYou can get the audio book for less than $2.
I'd like to see a video of the book with illustrations and the audio together. There was a clip of it on Last Week Tonight and it was really cute. I recognized Jim Parsons and John Lithgow right off the bat.
John and his team are absolutely brilliant at undermining the crazies by beating them at their own game.
Pence will be a nightmare. Say what you will about Omarosa but she called it.
I think we need to look at winning both the house and senate in November to keep Trump in check as much as possible, then taking the Oval Office in 2020. Otherwise you'd have to take both Trump and Pence out at the same time but avoid putting Paul Ryan in the White House. To do that, you'd have to have a Democratic Speaker of the House. That will probably be Nancy Pelosi. Boy, the GOP would go apeshit if Pelosi ended up the first woman president.
https://www.rawstory.com/2018/03/downright-destructive-conservative-served-three-gop-presidents-rips-evangelicals-trumps-sword-shield/
ReplyDelete"“I’m very uncomfortable calling myself now a Republican even though my roots are with the Republican Party,”
"“What’s happened is that a lot of these prominent evangelical Christians have gone from making a prudential judgment to being the sword and shield for Donald Trump,” Wehner observed. “They are his most reliable defenders.”"<666pence