Nice voice » « Somebody else says it: Musk is a charlatan

He’s never going away, is he?

Now he has become a golden idol at CPAC.

So…evangelical Christians still think he’s a good guy?

Nice voice » « Somebody else says it: Musk is a charlatan

Comments

  1. brucegee1962 says

    So about half of those people aren’t wearing masks. When covid finally dies down, I wonder what the breakdown will be of deaths in terms of political party?

  2. greenspine says

    But it’s not a calf and if you take the Word of The Lord seriously, like I do, you will realize this is fine

  3. blf says

    And teh Mitch of Moscow cameth downth from Mt Orlando,
    carrying thy twin tablets of thy tales and tantrums,
    sayth Dumpf ist wunderbar !

    And teh Mitch of Moscow seeth an idol to ye Orange,
    smash thy twin tablets of thy tales and tantrums,
    sayth Hagelführer der Orange !

    And teh Orange burst into flame,
    covfefe FAIL it’s a miracle and goeth away,
    tiny fingers flailing.

    Teh masses dance before teh idol to ye Orange,
    bare faces and brainless,
    on thy corpses of off-while and immigrant.

    And thy Q, being thy letter after Putin,
    rejoices, laughing
    in thy abodes of Walled Streets.

  8. says

    Simple Answers to Stupid Questions: yes, the Evangelicals still think Trump is God’s Chosen Warrior. The headlines alone on the Friendly Atheist page show that pretty clearly.

  10. PaulBC says

    cervantes@9 Good question. Is he holding the other end of that star on a stick, or is is attached some other way? I couldn’t find an unobstructed view. I did get to hear some knuckleheads say how “cool” it was in the video, and I think that may be enough Trumpiverse for me today.

  11. PaulBC says

    Akira MacKenzie@6

    I’m sorry, do they think this is a flattering depiction of their dear, dear leader?

    It’s a shock, considering their impeccable taste in most other things.

  12. Some Old Programmer says

    christoph @4:
    Nah, have you seen the price of brass? I’d believe metallic painted plastic.

  13. slithey tove (twas brillig (stevem)) says

    Raises the question, do they really think they exemplify Christian principles? How the F do they handle this cognitive dissonance?
    I guess like #FormerPresident following the teachings of Hister, thinking he can do it better this time;
    The CPAC are emulating the crowd leaving Egypt whose statue got desecrated by that hipster Moses.
    what a f… insult to their own people

  14. stroppy says

    Um…

    Looks constipated
    can’t find his big boy pants.

    Next Republican fad, metallic spray tan.

  15. stroppy says

    @13

    Cognitive dissonance…
    Something like we’re all sinners, so all is forgiven so long as dear leader is authoritarian, full old testymental wrath, and waves a bible around.

  18. Akira MacKenzie says

    slithy tove @ 13

    Raises the question, do they really think they exemplify Christian principles?

    Depends on how you define “Christian principles.” To the Evangelicals who support Trump, their religion is about groveling before an ancient Palestinian demigod lest his father (who is also his son) will have the magical ghost that lives in your body tortured for all eternity. The supposed charity and kindness Christ was alleged to show is only for fellow believers–and they no doubt can cherry pick passages from their holy book to back up their callousness.

    Ultimately, Evangelical Christianity is about obedience to a unquestionable power and punishing disobedience, a religion well-suited to the right-wing.

  19. dorght says

    “He’s never going away, is he?” I thought you meant prison. Sadly I don’t think he will ever serve time for his crimes.

  20. raven says

    It is at least realistic.
    It’s not a very attractive statue that doesn’t make any sense.

    Why is it holding a fairy wand and wearing flip flops?
    I can’t read what the paper in its hand says.
    Probably a deportation order or a blanket pardon for the US Capitol building attackers.

  21. stroppy says

    @13

    You’d understand it better if you’ve spent much time around fundie evangelicals.

    But yeah, the short answer is that if you think they care one bit about consistency, you’d be wrong. It’s a cult, their brains have been shut down.

  22. kathleenzielinski says

    For a great many evangelicals, it’s all about abortion and religious exemptions. He’s given them their first real chance at overturning Roe v. Wade, so they would put up with a whole lot more than this before they’d abandon him.

    I once asked, on an evangelical blog, if all the Christians willing to forgive Trump’s tomcat sexuality would give a similar pass to Pete Buttigieg had he been the Democratic nominee. About a dozen people immediately told me that the only thing they cared about was ending abortion. Plus one who said that as bad as Trump’s tomcat sexuality is, homosexuality is even worse so it’s not an apt comparison.

  25. PaulBC says

    The apparent fairy wand is certainly incongruous. Maybe it was intended as some kind of subversive prank, but the effect is entirely lost on the audience who just love it.

  26. christoph says

    Now I’m wondering if the statue is a joke of some sort. It’s obviously hideous and unflattering, and intentionally so.

  28. KG says

    consciousness razor@27,

    Well quite. And Biden hasn’t suspended arms sales to Saudi Arabia, has he?
    Oh, sorry, he has.
    Well, he hasn’t published that report showing that Crown Prince Sultan has Kashoggi murdered, has he?
    Oh, tush, I’m wrong again – that came out today!
    But he hasn’t rejoined the Paris Accord, has he?
    Ah, it slipped my mind that the USA’s return to membership was confirmed last week.
    But he certainly hasn’t revoked the ban on American funding for organizations that help women obtain abortions, has he? After all, he is a Catholic!
    He’s done that too? Sneaky! Pretending not to be exactly like Trump when we all know he is, if not worse!

  29. davidc1 says

    And they still dislike CNN ,Jim Acosta was surrounded by a hostile crowd while at CRAP ,sorry CPAC .

  31. consciousness razor says

    KG: I was told that the period after the election (not before) would be a good time for strong criticism, not faint praise.

  32. leerudolph says

    BruceFuentes@7: Before it was Elby’s, it was “Bob’s Big Boy” (as it was in my youth), and, yes, that was exactly what I was reminded of, too!

  34. PaulBC says

    I agree with KG@28 (saves me the effort of posting something less cogent).

    consciousness razor@31

    I was told that the period after the election (not before) would be a good time for strong criticism, not faint praise.

    Why not both? Your points are accurate and sadly unsurprising. At the same time, I don’t think it’s a time to get disillusioned. Things are much better without Trump, more so if you consider what Trump could become emboldened by an election win. Hold Biden’s feet to the fire, by all means. Not everyone will but somebody should, and yes, our appalling “foreign policy” is unlikely to get any better than it was under Obama or even George W. Bush.

  35. lanir says

    I had a few thoughts on seeing this

    The national conservative movement has shifted from “Stars and Stripes forever” to “Stars and Stripes for boxers.”

    His head is so far forward it’s like he’s ready to take it on the chin in 2020. And beyond.

    Some vibrators are called wands. Does the statue have one to attract the “grab them by the pussy” crowd or those that realize the statue is the version of Trump that will come closest to understanding consent?

    Comparisons to lawn gnomes are specious and insulting. This is clearly a lawn troll.

    I can’t be bothered to care enoigh about their BS to check but is this the only Trump presence at CPAC? If so, I think national conservatives have found the best way to use Trump: the same way he uses his name. Pointlessly large, golden and gaudy, tacky, and (possibly) without him being present.

  36. consciousness razor says

    and yes, our appalling “foreign policy” is unlikely to get any better than it was under Obama or even George W. Bush.

    Do you think that’s because people aren’t allowed to even mention unconstitutional/illegal acts of war, without neoliberal assclowns losing their shit and calling for more accommodationist concern trolling nonsense?

  37. PaulBC says

    This should put to rest any of the (totally reasonable!) suspicion that it’s satire. https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/26/politics/trump-gold-statue-cpac-2021/index.html

    The statue is perhaps the most extreme celebration at CPAC of the former president, who will speak here on Sunday in his first public appearance since leaving office. Zegan says every aspect of the statue — which puts Trump in a suit jacket, American-flag-themed shorts and flip-flop sandals — is intended to be symbolic.

    “The coat and tie is the fact that he’s a professional, he’s a businessman,” Zegan said. “The red tie symbolizes he’s a Republican. The red white and blue is that he’s a patriot. The fact that he’s wearing thongs and shorts is that he’s at the age where he should be retired. He should be at the beach right now.”

    Anyone who has tried to understand artist Jon McNaughton, for instance, has to come to grips with the fact that Trumpies see things very differently than you or I.

  38. PaulBC says

    CR@36

    Do you think that’s because people aren’t allowed to even mention unconstitutional/illegal acts of war, without neoliberal assclowns losing their shit and calling for more accommodationist concern trolling nonsense?

    I suspect that even if KG or I were to shut up, if that’s the issue, that the atrocious foreign policy would still continue.

  39. Tethys says

    Gilty! borrowed from The Guardians headline

    It’s a perfect rendering, giant weird coloured head, extremely tacky, and wears the flag as undershorts.

    Fundagelicals are all about manifest (white patriarchal) destiny, and beings gawds chosen people. They oppose immigration and women’s reproductive rights because they are far more comfortable with x-tian approved white supremacy.

  41. consciousness razor says

    I suspect that even if KG or I were to shut up, if that’s the issue, that the atrocious foreign policy would still continue.

    You do what you can.

  42. unclefrogy says

    as for foreign policy changes i think you can put the actions related to the Saudis and Iran rather significant. I would not expect everything to completely flip 180* over night. It has only been 6 months, no barely over 1 month the world is really a rather big mess right now.
    What a wonderful gesture (jester) that statue is, are they circling the wagons and reducing any broader appeal that they once aspired to. in further embracing the white fascists portion of the population?
    one can only hope
    uncle frogy

  43. jrkrideau says

    @ 5 PaulBC
    Is there a place you can make sacrifices or at least burn incense to this gnomish Trump idol?

    Of course, main concourse. We figure that we can get $50 for a pigeon and perhaps $600 for a calf. Incense, we are not sure of the prophet margins.

  47. hemidactylus says

    If there was a vengeful God:

    “He took the calf that they had made and burned it with fire and ground it to powder and scattered it on the water and made the people of [CPAC] drink it.”
    Exodus 32:20

    Moses was a bartender serving ur-rounds of Goldschläger? In my experience Goldschläger was that horrific concoction what my asshole friend coaxed me into drinking after pitchers of beer and often preceded a regretful dawn of porcelain prayer.

    I can only hope that God visits this wrathful torment down upon the QGOP for worshipping their false idol. Make em sell Buicks til their insides come out like a sea cucumber.

  48. PaulBC says

    hemidactylus@47 I’ll pass on the Trumpschläger. Plus as someone pointed out about, it is probably metallic-coated plastic.

  49. chrislawson says

    Why do I get the feeling the sculptor is in a bar somewhere laughing every time that shows up on the corner TV?

  51. PaulBC says

    The deeper you go, the weirder it gets. Here’s the “artist’s” page: https://tommyzegan.com/

    It is indeed a magic wand and his work is called “Trump and his Magic Wand” (apparently a riff on Obama’s mocking comment that only a diehard Trumpie would even remember). He showed it at the Tulsa rally and you can preorder a miniature, though the link doesn’t really go anywhere very specific.

    Trump and the magic sharpie would probably fit better. But this is not satire. This guy really believes he has made a great sculpture.

  53. bargearse says

    Umm, shorts and flip flops? There’s a lot of weirdness here but I really don’t get that one.

  54. says

    I saw a brief clip and thought it was satire. I guess it’s Poe’s Law in reverse.

    Eop’s Law:

    Eventually, extreme views will get extreme to the point that people will mistake or for parody.

  58. Timo Kaaarp says

    The Guardian reports that the statue was made in Mexico.

    Thank you reality, you are hilarious.

  59. PaulBC says

    bargearse@53

    Umm, shorts and flip flops? There’s a lot of weirdness here but I really don’t get that one.

    One day, Trumpish iconography will be taught at university level. The sculptor explains:

    The statue is perhaps the most extreme celebration at CPAC of the former president, who will speak here on Sunday in his first public appearance since leaving office. Zegan says every aspect of the statue — which puts Trump in a suit jacket, American-flag-themed shorts and flip-flop sandals — is intended to be symbolic.

    “The coat and tie is the fact that he’s a professional, he’s a businessman,” Zegan said. “The red tie symbolizes he’s a Republican. The red white and blue is that he’s a patriot. The fact that he’s wearing thongs and shorts is that he’s at the age where he should be retired. He should be at the beach right now.”

    But when asked if he would like for Trump to ease into retirement or run for President again in 2024, Zegan was emphatic.

    “I would be, yes, ecstatic,” he said. “If he wants it to happen, it will happen.”

    Oddly, this article doesn’t even address the magic wand. I’ll leave that as an exercise. (I’m just grateful he is wearing “thongs” and not a “thong.”) (Though Sumo Trump might be an interesting theme to explore.)

  61. PaulBC says

    CR@27 Another thing. Seems like you and Donny Jr. have something in common.

    “Who would have thought within 33 days we’d be bombing the Middle East again,” Trump Jr. said.

    Does that invalidate your point? Clearly not. But I don’t consider myself morally obligated to attack Biden on Syria right at the moment, if for no other reason because there are a whole lot of other people lined up to do it already for their own reasons. I’m not interested in helping their cause, which would be a more likely outcome than convincing Biden to reshape US foreign policy along lines that would satisfy Noam Chomsky and Bernie Sanders.

    I don’t mean that sarcastically. I agree with Chomsky’s longstanding critique of US imperialism, but I just have a feeling that the path forward probably doesn’t involve repeating talking points that are getting laughs at CPAC.

  63. robro says

    Perhaps it’s a depiction of Trump after his favorite shower.

    Couple of comments upthread speculated that it’s made of plastic. I read that it’s sheetmetal.

    Intransitive @ #62 — It’s two golden calves, but knobby knees, ankles, etc.

  64. blf says

    @63, “I read that it’s sheetmetal.”

    Eh?
    The artist has spoken, saying it’s made of fibreglass — in Mexico — and chrome-plated in Florida.

    (The following is cross-posted from poopyhead’s current [Pandemic and] Political Madness All the Time thread.)

    That hair furor idol at the annual superloonspeader wibble wibble in Florida wasn’t stopped by hair furor’s wall, Golden Trump statue turning heads at CPAC was made in … Mexico:

    […]
    “It was made in Mexico,” [artist Tommy] Zegan told Politico’s Playbook newsletter. Zegan, who lives in Mexico on a permanent resident visa, described the transport of the monument to CPAC in full to Playbook.

    Politico reported: “Zegan spent over six months crafting the 200lb fiberglass statue with the help of three men in Rosarito. He transported it to Tampa, Florida, where it was painted in chrome, then hauled it from there to CPAC.”

  67. consciousness razor says

    CR@27 Another thing. Seems like you and Donny Jr. have something in common.

    I did think there would be more bombings and have said so. Swamp Jr. can pretend to be surprised, and you can believe his bullshit if it makes you feel better. But that has nothing to do with me.

    Does that invalidate your point? Clearly not.

    Don’t let that stop you….

    But I don’t consider myself morally obligated

    Have you considered the possibility that I don’t give a fuck?

    I’m not interested in helping their cause

    And you’re not interested in the anti-war effort. How comfortable and disinterested of you.

  68. PaulBC says

    CR@67 I don’t think Junior’s point was that he’s surprised or that anyone should be, but I bet he did get a laugh from his audience.

    Have you considered the possibility that I don’t give a fuck?

    Sure, it is a possibility, though somewhat undermined by your followup.

    Anyway, I agree that Biden is not going to do wonders for world peace. Trump was on the verge of declaring himself president for life (whether you want to believe that or not, I could have taken that as a single issue and would have voted exactly as I did). Please do go ahead and criticize Biden. There is plenty of material. I was merely trying to explain why I’m less enthusiastic about that project, particularly as regards his unsurprising consistency in middle east policy.

  70. consciousness razor says

    Sure, it is a possibility, though somewhat undermined by your followup.

    Nope. I also don’t give a fuck whenever creationists/glibertarians/nazis/etc. merely believe that they’re right but are in fact wrong. That does not count for anything, and saying so doesn’t undermine arguments against them.

  71. consciousness razor says

    I don’t think Junior’s point was that he’s surprised or that anyone should be, but I bet he did get a laugh from his audience.

    But I’m definitely not laughing.

    Also, I don’t take all of my cues from them. Do you?

  74. Ichthyic says

    I was told that the period after the election (not before) would be a good time for strong criticism, not faint praise.

    I’ll take “Goalpost Moving” for 500, Alex!