RNC/Trump emails - the fleecing of his supporters

joanne said:

May I ask, sincerely and not to stir up any trouble, why is it still called ‘the American experiment’? After all this time?

For one thing, the variables are constantly changing. In 1860, Horace Greeley’s* newspaper described the American experiment, in part, this way: “Is it possible for a Government to be permanently maintained without privileged classes, without a standing army, and without either hereditary or self-appointed rulers?”

You can see that the first two conditions no longer apply, if they did even then, and the third has only recently been tested. And note the word “permanently.” If that’s a requirement, the experiment by definition can never end.

The entire New-York Daily Tribune editorial, which I just now stumbled upon, is worth a look:

https://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/teaching-resources-for-historians/sixteen-months-to-sumter/newspaper-index/new-york-daily-tribune/the-american-experiment

* Greeley, whose fame is unlikely to have reached Australia, was a very successful reformist publisher who ran for president in 1872 with the nascent Liberal Republican Party and lost to Ulysses S. Grant in a landside, dying soon after. He popularized the expansionist slogan “Go West, young man.”


DaveSchmidt said:

 And note the word “permanently.” If that’s a requirement, the experiment by definition can never end

 And is doomed to failure.  No empire lasts for ever.  At 230 some years, America has had a longer run than most.  I wouldn't be at all surprised if my children are part of the last generation of "Americans".


Klinker said:

I wouldn't be at all surprised if my children are part of the last generation of "Americans".

You keep playing Cassandra. How has your record been? (Predicting smart-alec replies from me doesn’t count.)


DaveSchmidt said:

You keep playing Cassandra. How has your record been? (Predicting smart-alec replies from me doesn’t count.)

 Saying America will end some day isn't a prediction, it is a fact.  I might be wrong about the time line but the people might be better off if I'm right. Certainly, the government becomes less representative with each census.  When people came up with the "the American Experiment" I don't think many imagined that it would end up as a Wyomingocracy.


Klinker said:

 Saying America will end some day isn't a prediction, it is a fact.  I might be wrong about the time line but the people might be better off if I'm right. Certainly, the government becomes less representative with each census.  When people came up with the "the American Experiment" I don't think many imagined that it would end up as a Wyomingocracy.

 Perhaps ironically, the representative from Wyoming has been notable for her rejection of her party's embrace of Trumpist authoritarianism.


Klinker said:

I might be wrong about the time line ...

That's where Cassandra made her bones, though. Agamemnon, Aegisthus and Clytemnestra all knew they were going to die someday. 


DaveSchmidt said:

That's where Cassandra made her bones, though. Agamemnon, Aegisthus and Clytemnestra all knew they were going to die someday. 

 You will note I changed my avatar after your post.  

I would suggest that most Americans who have not seen Planet of the Apes have no idea that the "American Experiment" will ever end.  American exceptionalism and all that.


Who hasn't seen Planet of the Apes?


Is Planet of the Apes a documentary?

Also, is he talking about the original or the reboot?


Klinker said:

 And is doomed to failure.  No empire lasts for ever.  At 230 some years, America has had a longer run than most.  I wouldn't be at all surprised if my children are part of the last generation of "Americans".

 So long as we're doing speculative fiction, I'll propose that people will be calling themselves "American" long after the polity itself has ceased to exist. At least one of the successor states on this continent will have an "English only" policy, with its people speaking a language that would sound as garbled to us as Italian would to Cicero.


drummerboy said:

Is Planet of the Apes a documentary?

Also, is he talking about the original or the reboot?

 What reboot?

cheese


PVW said:

 So long as we're doing speculative fiction, I'll propose that people will be calling themselves "American" long after the polity itself has ceased to exist. At least one of the successor states on this continent will have an "English only" policy, with its people speaking a language that would sound as garbled to us as Italian would to Cicero.

 The Holy American President, master of all of Central Ontario and Emperor of Western Belize.


Around 25years ago we had a secondhand bookshop, Passions of a Bookworm, in Brisbane…I think we had a copy of Greeley’s book in our collectibles section. I didn’t have time to read it though. I did note it was very old, and the writing style exceptionally dry.

If I had known more about who he was, I’d have had greater success in promoting it. cheese 

Thank you for explaining. The phrase makes more sense.  My sister (the retired librarian) pointed me towards a 1909 short story written by E.M. Forster, The Machine Stops. Really quite eerie, particularly in a time of pandemic, hyper-vigilance and media scepticism. I’ll share the link if anyone’s interested. 


Klinker said:

 The Holy American President, master of all of Central Ontario and Emperor of Western Belize.

 The thing people always find confusing is that the Holy American Empire of Ontario was neither holy, nor an empire, nor located in Ontario. Not that this stopped the Columbian AgroRetroists of the last century, but such movements always blend ahistorical nostalgia with militaristic expansionism and a thorough misunderstanding of late stage Facebookism. I mean, some scholars will go so far as to claim that "New Jersey" was never one of the "boroughs," which just goes to show that much of what we call scholarship is just projecting onto the past our own cultural anxieties.


Yeah. Read The Machine Stops. smile

PVW said:

 The thing people always find confusing is that the Holy American Empire of Ontario was neither holy, nor an empire, nor located in Ontario. Not that this stopped the Columbian AgroRetroists of the last century, but such movements always blend ahistorical nostalgia with militaristic expansionism and a thorough misunderstanding of late stage Facebookism. I mean, some scholars will go so far as to claim that "New Jersey" was never one of the "boroughs," which just goes to show that much of what we call scholarship is just projecting onto the past our own cultural anxieties.

 


joanne said:

Around 25years ago we had a secondhand bookshop, Passions of a Bookworm, in Brisbane…

Owning a used book store is one of the great vocations (the compensation disqualifies it from being one of the great professions). This confirms my belief that you are the coolest person I know in Australia.


Planet of the apes?

I’m thinking more along the lines of Logan’s Run…. Or Soylent Green 


Jaytee said:

Planet of the apes?

I’m thinking more along the lines of Logan’s Run…. Or Soylent Green 

The Road Warrior.


nohero said:

The Road Warrior.

 Yeah… you’re right… convoys with tattered flags…


joanne said:

My sister (the retired librarian) pointed me towards a 1909 short story written by E.M. Forster, The Machine Stops. Really quite eerie, particularly in a time of pandemic, hyper-vigilance and media scepticism. I’ll share the link if anyone’s interested. 

 Thanks for that. Always fascinating reading 19th and early 20th C science fiction. Often they seem to have accurately picked up on the general direction of the big patterns, even if the particulars ended up different. A lot of the same themes still being picked up in contemporary times. Reading this I was reminded of Snowpiercer, Wall E, and that weird dystopian novel where Donald Trump won the 2016 election. I mean, can you even imagine, Donald Trump as president? It would take something like someone from the future traveling back in time to give him a sports almanac and so changing our timeline and.. oh crud.


When V and I were discussing this, it was in the light of modern life - modern conveniences, the adaptations to ‘lockdowns’, etc. Comparing it with some of the other pieces discussed in recent articles, but that were only predicted in the 60s or 80s, it’s quite fascinating how much Forster captured in terms of mood, emotions, relationships as well as technology and work, politics.

https://www.cs.ucdavis.edu/~koehl/Teaching/ECS188/PDF_files/Machine_stops.pdf


From Con-man T****:

I feel sorry for Joe Biden.

In addition to having the worst presidential track record of ANY President so far, he will never know what it feels like to have the support of REAL American Patriots, like YOU.

YOU are what keeps me going, and to thank you, I’ve REACTIVATED your 400%-IMPACT OFFER for the NEXT 30 MINUTES.


jamie said:

From Con-man T****:

I feel sorry for Joe Biden.

In addition to having the worst presidential track record of ANY President so far, he will never know what it feels like to have the support of REAL American Patriots, like YOU.

YOU are what keeps me going, and to thank you, I’ve REACTIVATED your 400%-IMPACT OFFER for the NEXT 30 MINUTES.

 to thank you I'm going to allow you to give me money.

yippee


Sounds like my Trump Life Membership is REALLY going to expire this time!  I've been getting similar messages daily for the past few years:

Jamie,

45 minutes...

That’s it. After that, we’ll be forced to extend your Trump Life Membership offer to the next Patriot in line. Do you really want that to happen, Jamie?


Why wouldn't life membership be offered to all Patriots? Why would they have to wait in line?


is it a life membership with Trump, or a Trump Life membership?  


ml1 said:

is it a life membership with Trump, or a Trump Life membership?  

 True - it is odd wording.  It is for "Trump Life Membership".  Yet another con.

When I click on the link - the only other info is:

This membership is only for REAL Patriots who support President Trump and are determined to stop the radical Left from destroying our nation.
There are an EXTREMELY LIMITED number of Trump Life Memberships available. Hurry and claim yours before it’s too late!

A little more on the RNC fundraising:

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/27/us/politics/trump-republicans-fundraising-brand.html

During one stretch in June, roughly 90 percent of that committee’s fund-raising texts mentioned Mr. Trump. Some solicitations have appealed to supporters’ love of Mr. Trump; others have tapped into their fear of disappointing him.

At one point this spring, the committee warned donors against opting out of recurring monthly contributions through a prechecked box: “If you UNCHECK this box, we will have to tell Trump you’re a DEFECTOR.”

Maybe if you join, you get a subscription to Trump Life Magazine.


ridski said:

Maybe if you join, you get a subscription to Trump Life Magazine.

 it's got the best words


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