David Corn: "Don't you know that the president of the United States just..."

[Miles Archer]

David Corn
‏
Verified account

@DavidCornDC

On the Metro this AM, I wanted to grab all the Caps jersey-wearing fans & shout, "Don't you know that the president of the United States just justified the use of concentration camps, summary executions, torture, and mass forced starvation?" Is there something wrong with me?

7:51 AM - 12 Jun 2018

Link to tweet

[mahatmakanejeeves]

1. Yeah, but

it's not at all unlikely that many of the people wearing those jerseys were on their way to their jobs where they work to fight Trump. They might knock off at lunch to wander over to look at the parade, but after that, it's back to fighting Trump again this afternoon.

I might wander over to look at the parade too. Please don't ask me to name five players on the team.

What I'm saying is that it's possible to hold two separate ideas in your mind at the same time.

[olegramps]

18. This is nothing more than a PR stunt to gain approval for the 2018 elections.

Nothing was accomplished excepting giving Kim Jung Un a international forum which he would have been crazy not to have seized the opportunity. What did we get. Zero. At least Kim got the U.S. to stop joint maneuvers with the South. Up until yesterday they have been viewed as crucial for preparations in the case of war. Oh, Trump stressed over and over how much it was going to save us. Really. That is absolute bull crap. What is the next demand by the North. Don't be surprised when it will be the signing of an armistice and the removal or significant reduction of US troops. If the South Koreans accept this they are signing their death warrant. There is one and only one thing that has prevented the North Koreans from provoking a war and that is the presence of our troops along the DMZ and stationed throughout South Korea. Sorry Trump, but I am not in the least impressed. They will drag us into long and unproductive negotiations all the while steadily preparing for war. The only player who actually counts is China and they like things just the way they are.

[charliea]

25. Kim got more than that

The pResident called our joint maneuvers, something we've done with our (soon to be ex) South Korean allies for the last 70+ years, war games. Adopting the rhetoric of a vile dictator, to denigrate American preparedness is just disgusting...

#RESIST

[gratuitous]

2. And those fans can do . . . what about it, exactly?

I realize it's frustrating, but the Republicans who control the government have affirmatively decided not to do a damn thing about concentration camps, summary executions, torture, and mass forced starvation. If only there was a non-governmental organization, maybe one with constitutional protections, that could publicize this appalling news, and rally public opinion against it (which shouldn't be very hard to do). What do you think, Mr. Corn? Don't you realize a rather handsome annual income from an elevated media perch where you could say something about this and talk to a lot of people all at once? Do you have any media colleagues who are similarly appalled who might echo and amplify your message?

No; I'm afraid we're hostage to jersey-wearing randos on the train. Bummer.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

3. Also, their fares are filling Metro's coffers. And how.

I took an Orange Line train from Merrifield to Rosslyn last Thursday night, the night of the last game. Sheesh, it just filled up with people headed into downtown DC.

As I said about those fans, lots of them will be working against Trump when the parade is over. They can a) wear a jersey and b) still not like Trump. It is possible.

[sharedvalues]

49. Exactly . Work against Trump. Plenty to do.

Plus it’s DC. Tons of people informed about politics, and therefore tons of Dems.

[NastyRiffraff]

59. I was one of those jersey-wearing fans

packed into the Metro like a sardine. I love the Caps, and I hate Trump. However, I understand David's frustration.

(BTW, the parade was lots of fun)

[sharedvalues]

48. No. DO NOT preach the despair gospel.

There are plenty of things EVERY AMERICAN can do.

Get yourself a pro-immigrant or anti-Fox shirt and wear it.

Get out the vote. Register voters. Find some non-voting friends and talk to them about the importance of voting.

Volunteer with Majority54, or Moveon.
Go to Indivisible meetings.

Tell every restaurant to turn off Fox News.

Donate money to EndCitizensUnited.


None of this despair-gospel here on DU. This is the time to save the country and there is plenty to do. So go do it.

[gratuitous]

51. Didn't mean to go despair gospel

But hockey fans on the commuter train in full regalia on their way (presumably) to the championship celebration are hardly in a position or state of mind to care about what David Corn is so alarmed about. You know who can effect some change on that day? David Corn and his media colleagues, who could be use their privileged media platforms to tell those hockey fans what's going wrong with the country, and motivate them to want to change things.

[sharedvalues]

52. Only by showing up can we make a difference

We need to do things. Plenty to do, as I listed above.

There is still time to save the country. But to do it we need to take action.

Re hockey fans: they could wear anti-trump hats. Or pins.

[DownriverDem]

11. For some maybe

but folks here care and I see the caring at other left leaning sites too. Don't give up.

[Trek4Truth]

55. Thank you....I'll never give up, but it's just a fact that a lot of Americans are just not

engaged and have no idea what is going on with pretty much everything.

[LakeArenal]

33. I'm an American...

Don’t paint me with your trump brush.

[LakeArenal]

56. I think you did. Nt

[sharedvalues]

50. They do care. And we are working. Join in

Do not preach the despair gospel here on DU. It’s wrong and it would’nt be helpful even if it wasn’t wrong.

Plenty to do. Go do it. Go to indivisible meetings. Find actions to take every week.

[Trek4Truth]

53. What I'm saying is that they don't even know what is going on. nt

[sharedvalues]

57. Yea their responsibility as citizens and americans

Is to educate themselves about the corrupt fool backed by the corrupt GOP that is destroying America for tax cuts on the rich.

This is a national emergency. The biggest scandal in American history, and the biggest crisis since the Civil War. Trump and his GOP backers just blew up the post-war alliance system that kept the peace.


They should know. Everybody should know.

[Maven]

5. I know how he feels. Walking around NYC and seeing everyone going about their day

as if everything is normal, makes me feel like I'm insane. As long as people can get their Starbucks and the emails keep rolling in and business keeps chugging along and people can entertain themselves endlessly, no one seems to care that we have a Russian asset at the head of our government who is aligning us with the world's despots, unraveling our alliances with other Western democracies and enabling atrocities both at home and abroad.

When do we wake up?

[BumRushDaShow]

8. "When do we wake up?"

DU is woke. And I actually believe that much of America really is too. But there are some like us here (political junkies), who obsess about it and others who go on about their lives, many of whom include those suffering from the immediate personal negative impacts to themselves and families due to health or job issues.

The hope is that we can get everyone to the polls this November and the next November and the next November. I.e., not just every 4 years or every 2 years - they gotta be there EVERY year.

[SansACause]

24. We just had a primary election in my state.

Only 16% of eligible voters turned out.

[BumRushDaShow]

27. That's pretty good for a primary

Here in Philly you're lucky to get 10 - 11% although if there is a mayoral race, you might see a bit more during a primary.

This year with a gubernatorial election along with a completely redrawn congressional map, PA had an 18 % primary turnout. The hope is that a helluva lot more show up come general election time!

[The Mouth]

31. I wonder how many of those who didn't turn out

gripe the loudest?

Primaries are crucial; if we want good candidates instead of DINOs this is when we make that choice. Also a lot of the 'lower level' positions are crucial, Registrar of Voters, Sheriff, school board.
There is NEVER an excuse to miss a vote; never, none.

[bdamomma]

34. We get it here at DU

we need to vote no matter what. We need to get rid of this cancer which infecting our country and some people's mind.

There is such a thing as people power I truly believe that.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

9. See if this helps: Braden Holtby at the 2017 Capital Pride Parade

Braden Holtby at the 2017 Capital Pride Parade

Washington Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby and his wife Brandi joined Monumental Sports & Entertainment employees at the Capital Pride Alliance's 2017 Capital Pride Parade on Saturday, June 10 in Washington, D.C.

by Washington Capitals @Capitals / WashingtonCaps.com
June 10th, 2017

Washington Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby and his wife Brandi joined Monumental Sports & Entertainment employees at the Capital Pride Alliance's 2017 Capital Pride Parade on Saturday, June 10 in Washington, D.C.

The 2017 Capital Pride Parade marks the second year Holtby has participated in pride festivities, having marched in last year's event with the MSE contingency distributing team giveaways. Washington Mystics players Natasha Cloud and Ivory Latta also joined in the 2017 Capital Pride Parade which is part of the Capital Pride Celebration Weekend, Pride in the Nation's Capital. Pride in the Nation's Capital is comprised of more than 50 events celebrating the spirit and strength in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) communities in Washington, D.C. and the national capital region.

Monumental Sports & Entertainment Foundation is selling Washington Capitals, Mystics and Wizards Pride T-shirts online at https://represent.com/store/msepride for $24.99 each with proceeds benefitting the You Can Play Project. The shirts feature rainbow team logos and are available for purchase through June 30.

Check out photos of the event from Patrick McDermott:





Slapshot came out to #RockTheRainbow! Patrick McDermott

[LisaM]

14. Braden Holtby seems like a genuinely nice guy. And the NFL players have also stepped up

first, by doing their best to bring attention to prison inequity, and second, by a number of the players choosing to sit out going to the White House (and both teams in the NBA finals did this as well).

I am a huge sports fan, and part of the reason I resent what's going on is that I think enjoying a life where arts and entertainment and literature and well-being are important should be what we're aiming for anyway. Isn't that our ultimate goal?

And DC is a liberal place. Every one of my friends and relatives who support them are well-informed progressives. I think David Corn is a little off-base.

[GoCubsGo]

35. Yes, Holtby is a good guy. Most hockey players are, despite the game's reputation.

I agree with you that Corn is off base here. Apparently, one can't celebrate one's favorite team winning their first championship AND be outraged at their corrupt government at the same time? Let them enjoy their damn parade, FFS. Caps fans waited a long time for this. Let them have their few hours of happiness. They'll be back to reality with the rest of us in a few hours.

[Eyeball_Kid]

29. We wake up when...

A Russian Oligarch named Oleg, Petro, or Vlad sends US home owners a notice that the deed to their house is no longer valid, and that it's now owned by a Russian business firm that will now double their "rent" in exchange for being allowed to remain in their home. Our government ensures the legality and validity of civil contracts, backed by the US Constitution and laws. When the Russians decide to take over the legal infrastructure in the US, they'll simply declare those civil contracts null and void. Trumpy, after all, is THEIR agent, not our president.

[Sophia4]

6. My neighbors are Korean.

They are great people.

How do you stop the prison camps, the starvation, the isolation?

Maybe the first step is precisely the one Trump is taking?

While I agree that Trump is a horrible, corrupt president, opening the door to the rest of the world for North Korean children is something that I think is essentially good.

The only worry is that the North Korean government might take advantage of the open door and try to export some of its horror to our shores.

We have quite a vibrant, strong Korean community in Los Angeles. I wish them well.

Maybe this opening to the rest of the world will make the repression in North Korea impossible in the future. Maybe I am the cock-eyed optimist. But I still have hope.

Sometimes even an evil person like Trump or like Kim Jong Un can make a mistake and do something good. Let's just see and try to keep good thoughts for the Korean people.

[BumRushDaShow]

10. The Korean people were already working on relations on their OWN terms

and in comes a country that boasts John Bolton as the National Security Advisor, who was also there on that trip, and who has made some incredibly inflammatory remarks and pushed for some of the most draconian foreign policy positions in history (including PNAC), over the past 35 years.

I don't think anyone would disagree with stabilizing that part of the world. But the problem is what the motives are of those seeking to do so because at present, those motives are shallow at best and completely self-serving at worst.

[Sophia4]

16. Good points. We have to, however, keep one part of ourselves optimistic.

We can't stupidly move into some sort of manic cheer without being aware of the dangers and pitfalls in this situation. But for the Korean people who have been in a state of war during much of my life, I am very happy.

This is a first step. I wish that Obama was in charge of our government. He has a good balance in his personality between optimism and caution. Donald Trump does not. But we shall see what happens.

[BumRushDaShow]

20. Agree

The son (Kim Jong-un) is not the father (Kim Jong-il) but he has his father's generals to deal with and they could take him out in a hot minute if they see he is cow-towing to a fool.

Because Obama kept with past Presidential policies regarding some of these "rogue" and/or Cold War nations, and because the current occupant of the WH is insisting on doing everything "opposite" to what Obama has done, then decades of (mainly) GOP policy has literally been upended and stripped away while their party leaders stand there like deer in headlights with mouths agape.

Democrats have always wanted to upend GOP policies but replace them with common sense and well thought out replacements, NOT with random and chaotic flavor-of-the-moment positions.

[Sophia4]

21. We shall see. This "deal" whatever it entails could go well or could be disastrous.

But I am thinking of the Korean people especially in the North who have suffered so much under the terrible regime there.

I remember the Korean War very clearly. It was devastating for Korea. I remember the pictures of the war dead on the last page of the newspaper. I was just a little girl. My father was a minister and visited the families whose sons died in the war on some occasions. We shall see what happens.

I think North Koreans would be shocked to know what life is like in Western countries. I could be wrong, but I think they will be amazed.

[BumRushDaShow]

23. My mother would have been 88 this year

and she was a social worker in the mid-50s when plane and boatloads of Koreans came here to Philly (many being part of her caseload). So there is a large Korean diaspora out there who could help.

IMHO the reunification of East and West Germany might be instructive as a template as you had a similar situation in terms of a very poor and oppressed "East" that had to be brought up to speed in a hurry. Nowadays the Internet might make it easier.

[The Mouth]

32. Maybe- hopefully -

Kim isn't dumb (he'd be dead by now if he was). Better to be a globe hopping billionaire going to Davos and Planet Hollywood and give his people some amount of freedom, even if not going for full unification, as opposed to being both an absolute ruler of a much poorer nation, and a pariah most of the cool places he probably really wants to hang out (planet Hollywood, Vegas, Paris).... Just a thought. I know I'd rather be a billionaire EX dictator feted at cool parties than being completely in charge of a prison camp.

[BumRushDaShow]

38. I expect he fancies himself like

his South Korean compatriot PSY.

ETA lol.... JibJab did this -

[The Mouth]

39. I'm all for that

Let him prance around the world stage, you know he wants to. Great mash-up

I'd rather be a rich celebrity feted for normalizing relations with the rest of the world than a VERY rich jailer hated by nearly everyone. It seems people with fame and wealth want power, maybe the people with power also have the 'grass is always greener' and just want to be the life of the party.

I'd be OK with Trump Casino Pyongyang if it meant that the poor souls in North Korea had a better life with enough to eat and we could bring a bunch of troops home from South Korea.

[Sophia4]

40. You got it! Kim Jong Un is a young man. I will say no more.

North Korea must be one of the most boring places on this earth.

#Basta.

[BumRushDaShow]

41. He's the same age as Eric Trump (birthdays are 2 days apart).

[Sophia4]

42. Under 45. Does it.

And what do you think will happen when the North Koreans get to travel to the West and watch our videos and movies?

I suspect that is the gamble being taken.

[BumRushDaShow]

44. They don't need to travel far, let alone to "the west"

just to their own southern kin.

Hell, South Korea (where LG is headquartered) makes most of the tv/computer monitors/screens, let alone tons of appliances.

And a large part of Marvel's "Black Panther" was filmed on location in South Korea -

[Sophia4]

45. Thanks. It's a gamble, but what is the alternative?

[BumRushDaShow]

46. As I noted - they should follow how East & West Germany did it. It will take time.

[Sophia4]

47. Right. South Korea met with Kim Jong Un before we did.

We just have to wait and see.

Meanwhile, the more of the developed world that North Koreans get to see, the better it is in my book. They need to see what they are missing because of their poor leadership.

[Miles Archer]

12. I hear you, but...

...I have to wonder if a guy who executed people with and anti-aircraft gun can be redeemed.

You have two issues here...the quality of life for North Koreans, and Kim.

And I think Kim is more than an evil person who made a mistake.

He's not like The Grinch. I don't believe his heart is going to grow three sizes because of a photo op with Trump.

My having doubts regarding Kim is not directly connected to my wish for a better life for North Koreans.Of course we wish that.

If the path to that better life is Kim having some sort of epiphany, I don't think Trump's visit accomplished that.

And if it's a first step to anything, I am reminded of the journey of 1000 miles that begins with a single step.

Time will tell what, if anything, was accomplished yesterday.

[Sophia4]

15. Couldn't agree with you more.

We shall see, but for the Korean people, at least there is some hope of peace.

As for Kim . . . . . we shall see. I don't think anyone will be anything but wary about Kim and the upper echelons of Korean government.

[Eyeball_Kid]

30. Great. Maybe Trumpy will let the children of refugees out of their cages as well, eh?

Look, Sophia, Trumpy is nothing but an evil bastard who will always cause suffering for his personal gain. He will do it over and over until his last breath. The Korean community means nothing to him unless he can exploit them for money and/or power.

We MUST come to terms with the fact that an evil, traitorous person is running our country, and running it into the ground. He's a Russian Agent. He's representing Russia's best interests, not ours. His chosen allies are Russia, Turkey, The Philippines, Saudi Arabia, and now, North Korea. Among his plans are to invite Kim Jong Un to the White House for a State Visit. Think about that.

[LudwigPastorius]

7. Trump admires the cult of personality that the Kim family has built around themselves,...

and longs for something similar for himself.


If it took a little brutality to get there, so be it.

[mitch96]

13. A wanna be dictator getting pointers

On how to practice his dictatorial powers...
m

[duforsure]

17. He's going to prove to be...

...even more brutal and corrupt than anyone ever imagined possible from a President. This deal was probably all business dealings for himself and is family in NK, China , and Russia in exchange for these policies changes he now is behind, and getting sweetheart deals for himself and his family, while hurting us and our allies, again. Just like he's done in Russia with putin. Pay for play, just another accusation he claimed against Hillary that he's doing. Con job .

[IronLionZion]

19. This parade has way more people than dipshit's inauguration

The caps have more fans than that orange dumpster fire.

Are you out there registering hockey fans to vote? It could help. There was voter registration at every block during the March for our lives.

People need something to feel happy about when there is so much terrible shit in this world. Think of it as a morale booster rather than a distraction from the issues. The biggest Caps fan I know is a Middle Eastern immigrant.

I'm not a caps fan but am glad people in my city finally have something to feel good about while that orange bastard is out of the country.

[keithbvadu2]

22. Fox News Hypocritical Reporting on North Korea Meeting - Trump/Obama

Fox News Hypocritical Reporting on North Korea Meeting - Trump/Obama

[Glimmer of Hope]

28. Unbelievable.

[oberliner]

37. That's a great compilation

[oberliner]

36. What an odd tweet

People shouldn't celebrate their team winning because of North Korea?

[liberal_patriot_md]

43. Fuck off

Sports is one of the places we can go and escape the dreary world of politics.

[WhiteTara]

58. And announced tent cities for small children

and teenagers all mixed together in the weather. This is crazy.