It’s June 10, 2019 and it’s time to review five of the most outrageous, infuriating,
or just plain baffling things that have happened lately.
It’s your Facepalm Five.
Let’s count ‘em up!
1.
A Turkey in the U.K.
That title is a reach.
I know, I know.
Anyway, Donald Trump visited the United Kingdom last week.
And he brought his whole horrible family along with him!
By the way, why were Trump’s grown sons who don’t work for his administration and
are supposedly independently running his businesses along for this official state visit?
This troubles me for ethical reasons, and for personal ones as well – has any trip,
official or otherwise, ever been improved by the presence of Donald Trump Jr’s flailing,
aggro mediocrity?
Trump’s visit was going badly before it even started – prior to leaving the U.S.,
Trump declared that Boris Johnson would make an excellent prime minister, which British
politicians from the right and the left condemned as inappropriate and “distasteful” interference
with their internal politics.
During the visit, Trump also insulted London Mayor Sadiq Khan, calling him “a stone cold
loser.”
Later, because he can’t help but threaten people who challenge him, Trump also said
that Khan “[shouldn’t] be criticizing a representative of the United States who
can do so much good for the United Kingdom.”
In other words, if Saddiq Khan really loved his country, he’d be a Trump supporter.
Trump also claimed he refused a requested meeting with Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn
because Corbyn is “a negative force,” adding “I really don’t like critics.”
Tell us about it.
He also denied the widespread protests of his visit, calling them “fake news” and
claiming he’d only seen thousands of people cheering him during his time in the U.K. He
responded to a question about his ban on trans people serving in the military by claiming
that trans people “take massive amounts of drugs” and that “you’re not allowed
to take any drugs in the military” – both of those claims are false, by the way – two
false claims in one answer – a Trump Two-fer!
He responded to a question about climate change by bragging about how clean American air and
water is, and said it’s even cleaner since he’s been president, which demonstrates
that he’s a liar, a narcissist, and an ignoramous who still doesn’t know what climate change
is – a Trump Triple!
And he provoked outrage when he suggested that a post-Brexit trade deal between the
U.S. and the U.K. could somehow involve the U.K.’s National Health Service, a suggestion
he was forced to withdraw a few hours later because literally nobody was having it.
Speaking of stunning yet life-affirming political embarassments:
2.
Mr. Benjamin Does Not Go to Brussels.
This is slightly old news, but I wanted to wait until the European Parliament election
was over before I brought it up, so bear with me.
One of the big stories in the U.K. regarding the European Parliament elections last month
was the candidacy of several men best known for supporting fascism, xenophobia, antifeminism,
and for being professional online trolls.
There was Oswald Mosley wannabe Tommy Robinson, founder of the fascist English Defence League,
who ran as an independent; Mark “Count Dankula” Meechan, a racist YouTuber most famous for
a video where he prompts his girlfriend’s dog to make a Nazi salute, which earned him
a fine for malicious communications (well done, dipshit), running for the United Kingdom
Independence Party (UKIP); and Carl Benjamin, also known as Sargon of Akkad, a YouTuber
who built his audience on rape apology and targeted harassment of feminists, also running
for UKIP.
Of the three, Benjamin got the most attention due to a tweet he sent to British Member of
Parliament Jess Phillips a couple of years ago where he told Phillips, a sexual assault
survivor who was promoting an effort to curb online harassment at the time, that he “wouldn’t
even rape” her.
Quite rightly branded “the rape tweet guy,” Benjamin dug his own grave even deeper by
releasing a video where he escalated his rape taunt into a veiled rape threat, saying that
although he maintained that he wouldn’t rape Phillips, with enough pressure he might
cave, adding, “but let’s be honest, nobody’s got that much beer.”
Neither Robinson nor Meechan nor Benjamin were elected, and in fact the negative reaction
to their candidacies, and Benjamin’s candidacy in particular, was so overwhelming that UKIP,
which did pretty well in the previous European Parliament election, lost all of its seats
and may be finished as a viable party.
This is all well and good – and I must say on a personal note it was incredibly satisfying
to see Carl Benjamin repeatedly doused with milkshakes and pelted by fish and generally
subjected to the unforgiving ridicule and rejection that he deserves – but here are
the two most important points, as I see them.
First, the death of UKIP is great, but not as great as it first appears – much of the
party’s losses are due not to defeats but defections.
Benjamin and company’s candidacies were so offensive and toxic, even to others on
the far-right, that many UKIP members defected to Nigel Farage’s newly formed Brexit party.
And the Brexit party did very well in the election.
So while UKIP itself may be gone, the xenophobic, isolationist, nationalist political movement
it represented is not.
Second, the way the candidacy of Carl Benjamin was handled by the British media should be
a lesson for how such candidates should be treated by the press here in the U.S.
He wasn’t treated as a bit of fun, he wasn’t presented as innocent, and he wasn’t shown
respect he hadn’t earned.
He was almost unanimously condemned, as were the party leaders who stuck by him, and when
he or those party leaders were interviewed they were forced again and again to try and
explain themselves and justify their repugnant and inexcusable actions.
In other words, a political candidate with a history of harassing women and embracing
and promoting numerous forms of bigotry and intolerance was treated exactly like such
a candidate deserves to be treated.
No false balance, no “both sides” horseshit, no pretending that he was a serious candidate
who deserved to be heard.
This is exactly how Donald Trump should have been treated from the very beginning of his
candidacy – condemned, denounced, confronted with his bigotry and abuses again and again,
not allowed to set the terms of his own narrative.
The sad part is, even after two years of a Trump presidency and the example of the U.K.’s
coverage of Benjamin’s candidacy, I don’t think most of the American mainstream media
has figured this out yet, and I doubt they will in time for our next general election.
3.
New State Department human rights panel to focus on “natural law”.
Yeah, because it’s always a good sign when an administration full of far-right religious
extremists starts talking about natural law.
Week before last the U.S. State Department announced the formation of the Commission
on Unalienable Rights, a new panel that will advise the Secretary of State on issues related
to human rights, and “provide fresh thinking about human rights discourse where such discourse
has departed from our nation's founding principles of natural law and natural rights.”
The use of phrases like “natural law” and “natural rights” is worrisome because
they’re often used in a religious context, and so far the Trump administration’s human
rights record consists of dismantling anti-discrimination protections in the name of religious liberty
domestically, and ignoring the human rights abuses of desired economic and ideological
allies internationally.
Oh yeah, and the whole “putting undocumented immigrants in concentration camps” thing.
And trying to ban Muslims from entering the country.
And supporting laws that would force people who become pregnant to stay pregnant whether
they want to or not.
Based on all of that, I’d guess we can look forward to such bold, forward-thinking proposals
from this new commission as “Just let conservative Christians do whatever they want” and “Human
rights: do we really even need them?”
Am I even joking?
Because there’s never a bottom with these people.
Every time you think they’ve gone as low as they can possibly go, they start passing
out shovels.
4.
YouTube celebrates Pride Month by affirming homophobic abuse.
A little over a month ago, Susan Wojcicki, CEO of YouTube, tweeted this: “My #1 priority
is responsibility, even if that comes at the expenses of growth.”
Hang on to that while I tell you this next thing.
Carlos Maza, a host for Vox, recently brought an issue to the attention of YouTube.
He reported Steven Crowder, a right-wing YouTuber who has been inciting homophobic harassment
against Maza, who is gay, for years.
Obviously Maza is far from the first person to point out the problem of unchecked harassment
on YouTube, and Crowder is far from the only person to have built a career harassing people,
but for whatever reason this time the story gained a bit of traction with the public.
Several of Maza’s tweets about Crowder’s harassment went viral, and YouTube was forced
to actually respond.
That response: Crowder’s relentless harassment of Maza does not violate YouTube’s policy.
Replying to Maza, the @TeamYouTube account tweeted, “As an open platform, it’s crucial
for us to allow everyone–from creators to journalists to late-night TV hosts–to express
their opinions w/in the scope of our policies.”
Calling a journalist “a lispy queer” and inciting your audience to dogpile him on social
media is apparently within the scope of YouTube policy.
Not that this should be a surprise to anyone who’s been on YouTube in any capacity for
more than a couple of minutes.
The Team YouTube reply concludes with this revolting bit of contradictory corporate masturbation:
“Even if a video remains on our site, it doesn’t mean we endorse/support that viewpoint.”
The thing is, it literally does mean that.
You can’t knowingly host hateful, ignorant, dehumanizing content on your website – not
only that, but choose to continue hosting it after a review – and claim you don’t
endorse it.
You just did endorse it.
You replied to someone who has been the target of harassment on your platform and you said
“The person harassing you and his content are welcome on YouTube.”
And yes, you support that viewpoint as well because you host it, you enable it to be disseminated,
you enable those who create it to profit from it, and you profit it from it too.
If a principal knows there are bullies terrorizing students in her school and she does nothing
to stop the bullies and nothing to help the students being bullied, she doesn’t get
to claim that she doesn’t support bullies, because that’s exactly what she does.
She doesn’t get to declare that “responsibility” is her #1 priority when the only thing that
moves her to take even minimal token action against the problem is when it starts to fuck
with her money, because that’s the beginning and the end of it: bigoted professional bullies
like Crowder make money for YouTube, and YouTube is willing to allow Crowder and others like
him to use their platform to harass and abuse, to spread ignorance and intolerance, to normalize
fascism and white supremacy, and to toxify our popular and political culture, as long
as YouTube gets to keep its cut of the profits.
This has been going on for years, but it’s especially bitter to see it confirmed so shamelessly
now, during Pride Month, when YouTube is using rainbow imagery and pro-LGBTQ+ slogans to
brand itself as an inclusive and supportive company.
As Chris Geidner points out on Twitter, YouTube videos continuing the harassment of Maza are
now literally being served underneath a rainbow logo.
Now it’s time for the segment devoted to some of the other things Donald Trump has
done recently to disgrace the presidency and embarrass and/or endanger the United States
and the rest of the world:
5.
The Further Misadventures of Lord Dampnut.
Please keep in mind as always: the following is not a complete list.
His European trip didn’t end with the visit to the U.K., you know.
Unfortunately.
He spent the 75th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy, where he gave an interview to Laura
Ingraham of Fox News while sitting in the Normandy American Cemetary, site of the graves
of 9,000 American war dead, most of whom died during or shortly following the D-Day landings
in 1944.
During the interview, Trump, with row after row of white crosses visible behind him, insulted
former special counsel Robert Mueller, insulted Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi while insisting
“I’ve tried to be nice,” and responded to a question about what he could do to help
unite the country by touting his plan to raise tariffs on Mexico in retaliation for undocumented
immigration and saying that people opposed to the plan should be ashamed of themselves.
He signed a proclaimation commemorating D-Day along with representatives from 15 other countries.
Of course, the rest of them signed at the bottom, while Trump signed in the top left
corner, because he can’t not be an asshole.
He was warned in a letter signed by 17 automobile manufacturers that his plan to roll back Obama-era
pollution standards would seriously destablize the market – you know you’re screwing
up when car companies are coming out against your plan to reduce pollution regulations.
He signed a disaster relief bill and tweeted, “Puerto Rico should love President Trump.
Without me, they would have been shut out!”
You know, just like President Truman, who announced the beginning of the Berlin airlift
with his famous “There, This Ought to Shut You Berliners Up!” speech.
He tweeted, out of nowhere, “For all of the money we are spending, NASA should NOT
be talking about going to the Moon – We did that 50 years ago.”
First of all, NASA’s budget amounts to less than one half of one percent of total federal
spending, so shove that “for all the money we’re spending” shit straight up your
ass, maybe?
Second, Trump’s “we shouldn’t go to the Moon” declaration flies in the face
of priorities that have previously been set for NASA by members of the Trump administration,
including Trump-appointed NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, Vice President Pence, and
Trump himself, who tweeted “Under my administration, we are restoring NASA to greatness and we
are going back to the Moon” less than a month ago!
And finally, Trump marked the start of Pride Month by calling for everyone to stand in
solidarity with LGBT people around the world who are being persecuted, imprisoned, even
executed because of their sexuality.
Yes, isn’t it awful how LGBTQ+ people are treated in other countries?
Why can’t those barbarians follow the Trump administration’s enlightened example and
punish and kill LGBTQ people by legalizing discrimination against them and depriving
them of health care like civilized fucking people?
That’s five.
Speak out, act out, resist, look after each other.