Basic competency is a minimum qualification. If the candidate is incompetent, the fact that they occasionally utter words that sound good is meaningless.

One could fertilize Kansas with this horseshit...

I think everyone was in shock. And many of us HAD to be a least a bit hopeful that ....well, the country's leadership didn't devolve into what it is today.

From Feinstein to Van Jones, and this Salon article. It was partly a projection of what they hoped to see happen. It was long before we found out just how unhinged and narcissistic he was. Even more than we had seen. It was all we could cling to at that time.

I thought of that too. Hopefully, going forward, nobody takes for granted that these institutions are foolproof.

he's a key member in Glenn Greenwald's emoprog twitter mutual masturbation circle and it's not like three years of living under the Trump has made his ass smart all of a sudden.

Nevermind the fact that he's been wrong about literally everything he's penned since.

Some things I do not forgive, and I'd said at the time any supposed "liberal" who stood idly by (or in some cases actively helped) as Trump came to power was going to be dead to me. The stakes are too high... Not only should these Quislings be purged from the left, they should face reprisals -- But that is a discussion for another time...

to repeat his fucked up propaganda act he did in 2016.

I don't think DU was. I don't think the USA was. I truly have no idea what you could be talking about. Anyone writing like the Salon article was an illiberal arsehole. We knew it then, and we know it now. He hates Hillary Clinton, and did all he could to stop her being elected. Look at this hit piece from Nov 2015: https://www.salon.com/2015/11/30/more_like_reagan_than_fdr_im_a_millennial_and_ill_never_vote_for_hillary_clinton/

It was obvious to anyone that Trump would be a disaster; we knew he loved killing people (look at his wish for the Central Park Five to be executed, even after their exoneration). There was no area in which he'd be better for anyone (apart from millionaires and despots) than Hillary.

It's not 'unfair' to drag it out; the question is just whether it's worth it. Since Bragman's still an apologist for Trump, despite claiming to be a Sanders supporter, I think it is, so that we're reminded what a piece of shit he is, and know to never trust him:

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

It sported real investigative journalism by the likes of Murray Waas.

It's long since devolved into an ugly click-farm with zero editorial judgement. In 2016 it not only featured this trust-fund dilettante Walker Bragman, but HA Goodman and Michael Tracey. Months and months of them -- and Goodman in particular was and is obviously mentally disturbed. Like others of their ilk, they've since emerged as white-nationalist-curious Trump supporters.

dictatorship, nor is he the second coming of Hitler. Our political culture precludes such a shift within any one presidency..." Yes, our institutions have more depth than Trump realizes, and, yes, the system is fairly robust and resilient. But one need only look at the damage Trump has already done, the things he does and says with impunity, to realize how very dangerous he is. There are thousands of children who have been taken from their immigrant parents and may never be reunited. We've just ceded the Middle East to Russian and Iran. But for the loyalty of patriotic civil servants and Democratic Congress members, we would have to take seriously Trump's threats too stay on office for 20 years, to muzzle the press and imprison journalists, and deuce Congress to an impotent branch off government.

Isn't it a violation of DU TOS to post RW talking points?

That was so stunningly a bad assessment of Trump, it takes one's breath away.

Trump speaks his mind. Why was this supposed to be a good thing? Abusers, liars, con-men, bullies, sociopaths, narcissists, psychopaths, dictators and murderers all speak their minds.

It's the content of one's mind that counts. Garbage within, garbage out.

"A tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury..." is one way to speak your mind.

"This is a terrific investment. You'll make 10% per month, every month, forever!"

"I'm going to murder your children before your eyes. See how you like that!"

It's the content of the mind that is speaking, not the mere fact of speaking.