A good friend and widely- (and justly) admired lawyer who has been displaying his Trump Derangement symptoms on his Facebook page all year just provided an excellent example of the malady with his Thanksgiving post.
He re-posted the following Occupy Democrats “X” entry attacking J.D. Vance for his speech to the troops this week, as if anything issued by that extreme partisan propaganda outfit is reliable, fair, or trustworthy:
Then my friend, a lawyer, someone who knows as well as anyone that hearsay is unreliable and that biased sources will make you look foolish, wrote:
“If this is accurate it is one of the most bizarre rants by an American politician that I have ever read or heard about. What other American vice president has ever taken on and dumped all over in such crass language the most sacred symbol of one of our most important national holidays? I guess it’s remotely conceivable that Vance was trying to be funny, but if so it seems he needs major schooling on how to amuse an audience of soldiers desperately sick for home at Thanksgiving. MAGAS? Any thoughts on this? Are you proud of this man?”
Never mind that Occupy Democrats is infamous for its distortions of reality to demonize Republicans. Never mind that the video of Vance’s remarks are easily accessible on YouTube. Never mind that a good lawyer like my friend would never dive in with an opinion after writing “If this is accurate” when he had every opportunity to determine on his own whether it was accurate or not. He wanted the biased assessment of Vance’s speech to be true, because he wants to believe the worst about President Trump and anyone who supports him, and he knows that nobody on Facebook, save, perhaps, me, and I have a sock drawer to organize, will call him out on his unethical post.
I did watch the speech, which is posted above. The bit about turkeys was a small segment of the speech as whole. It was not a “rant.” His point was that Americans celebrate Thanksgiving with a roasted turkey out of tradition rather than because it is the yummiest main course imaginable. Of course he was trying to be funny, and because we can’t hear the audience reaction, it is impossible to tell if his routine worked (I could give him a few tips on his delivery) but so what? That was a minor section of the speech. Nor was he using “crass language.” Vance ad libbed “You’re full of shit!” to the soldiers raising their hands as part of the gag, and anyone who believes using the common if vulgar phrase in front of military personnel will be regarded as crass doesn’t know that audience.
But this is Trump Derangement! Neither Trump nor anyone connected to his Presidency gets or is owed good will or the benefit of the doubt. Everything that is said or done or suggested by the President or his supporters is presumed to be terrible, and the Trump Deranged don’t want to be bothered by context, facts or perspective. Their minds are made up. I am watching previously fair, wise and rational people debase themselves without even realizing it, because, you see, the President is “deeply evil.”
Ethics Alarms 
Oh, please. As if that Democrat doesn’t protest Thanksgiving every year as the day we started slaughtering the Indians or something. Nothing about our holidays is sacred to them anymore.
I read this pathetic article yesterday. The author is, and I’m being charitable here, a moron. Her husband is a moron. I’m eating Thanksgiving dinner at my aunt’s house on Saturday with my Trump-deranged sister and I’m going to hug and kiss her when I see her. It’s a mental illness, I tells ya!
https://www.aol.com/articles/canceled-thanksgiving-husband-laws-voted-134654226.html
humour is ABSENT from the HORRENDOUS left.
What’s really funny about this is that I’ve long agreed with the “unfunny rant.” Turkey is the bench warmer to the other meats, and I’ve never looked forward to a turkey dinner, other than when my FIL deep fried a turkey one year.
Oh, Vance is definitely correct. It’s why you seldom see turkey on a restaurant menus except on Christmas and Thanksgiving. (Goose is better,)
Nothing to add, except that on this day of giving thanks, I am thankful for Jack Marshall and his blog. I rarely miss checking in.
I learn a lot, I think about things differently, and I get to know a little bit about Jack, and his day, and how he’s doing, he being gracious enough to let us in.
Though I do not know him personally, I feel like at least an acquaintance.
Love ya, Jack.
We know you’re not celebrating, but Happy Thanksgiving.
Amen to that!!
Likewise!
I’m thankful for having had the opportunity to meet our host face-to-face on a few occasions and get to know him (primarily because of the happy accident that we live in the same geographic area) and consider him a cherished personal friend. Jack is a terrific guy whom I think I could sit and chat with continuously for DAYS without losing interest.
(I make no representations that he would say the same of me.)
Jack, THANK YOU for this blog.
…and for the great many things you’ve taught me through it.
…and for your friendship.
Happy Thanksgiving!
–Dwayne
I would not expect a civilian lawyer to understand what does and does not amuse junior enlisted soldiers. (I do acknowledge there are exceptions to that.) During his enlistment, Vance spent a fair amount of time with them, and he is smart enough to have learned a few things. So, his comments will be viewed differently by the elite and those who have been, so to speak, in the trenches.
The real failure, in my opinion (about 24 years in the Army and then another 20 in an occupation closely related to the military, working with young people), is forcing a group of those young people to attend an event they mostly do not want to attend and listen to someone trying to score political points.
When Vance dumped one of those political issues on them (Biden, turkey pardon, autopen), do they boo Biden or do they cheer Vance? Either course has its risks. The only good option for the troops is to sit stone-faced. For officers, the UCMJ is even more controlling, prohibiting disrespect of a variety of high officials (c.f. stone faces for Hegspeth’s forced assembly of generals to show who’s in charge).
With regard to turkey being a shit choice, Vance made the smart choice to serve barbecued ribs, right?
Oh, wait. Never mind.
Terrific observations, HJ.
Trump derangement will not become a thing of the past upon the expiration of his second term. It will morph into [Whoever the Republican Candidate/President Is] Derangement Syndrome. The members in good standing of the axis of unethical conduct have long been giving J.D. Vance the full treatment, but they are just getting started on him. The politics of personal destruction seem to be all they have anymore. Hillary Clinton’s being denied her rightful place in 2016 seems to have simply broken them forever.
“Hillary Clinton’s being denied her rightful place in 2016 seems to have simply broken them forever.”
Heh!
PWS
Not “will” . . . “already has”.
I, for one, can still remember how the very moderate-to-liberal Mitt Romney was treated like the devil, apparently warranting out-and-out lies to defeat him in the election, but “it worked, didn’t it?”
I can also remember the instantaneous transformation of media darling “maverick” John McCain, famous in the press for frequently going against his own party, into an arch-conservative super-villain who would be the end of civilization as we know it. Then after he didn’t win, he went right back to being the media darling he’d been before.
This has been the Press / Democrat playbook for DECADES.
–Dwayne
Speaking of being thankful, I realized I never thanked you for featuring my comment on “Fake Ron Howard’s” socialist manifesto. Being featured on an Ethics Alarms has long been a goal of mine, and I’m grateful you found me worthy.
Just for the record: Turkey breast is a popular choice for sandwiches, year around.
In general, it could be the logistics of cooking turkey that keeps it out of the starting rotation. Takes up an inordinate amount of space in the ‘fridge, one must reorganize the racks in the oven to get it in, carving is its own challenge, then dealing with the remains (the Mrs boils it down to make stock for soup, but many are not up for that task)… all these negatively influence the decision to have a roast turkey in June or whenever.
We were “away’ this year, but got a frozen turkey breast for our personal use. Will cook it this weekend and enjoy turkey sandwiches into the future.
I agree that the Hillary loss is the driving force for the “4 years of hate” (apologies to Orwell). For some reason the Dems have adopted a format for their presidential candidates that is similar to one “moving through the chairs” at the Elks lodge — your turn- regardless of skill level.
Well, “moving through the chairs” is following a grand, if failed, tradition. The nation began by delivering the Presidency to its Founders one after another: George, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe. The GOP slipped into that mode with Dole, who was an awful candidate but it was his “turn.” The Soviet Union did it too. Lazy, arrogant,and stupid.
As you note, Vance was just riffing for his audience, as a small part of his address, and likely got a fair number of nods and chuckles at that part. The “does anybody really like X?” is sort of a standard comic schtick.
As far as the turkey goes, we have a popular local non-chain restaurant that has had “turkey dinner” as a permanent menu item for years. It’s widely available at delis and groceries, especially as a sandwich meat (I’ll exclude any meat sliced from a “loaf” for consideration for anything but cat food). I doubt think the real problem is people’s dislike of it but that the time, effort, and even space it takes to deal with preparing a full turkey puts it outside of the regular cycle of dinner prep for most households.
I thought it was pretty humorous. If he needs help with timing, he can study under The Donald who is a natural (or so good that he makes it look natural). I agree that turkey is not great. It’s better as leftovers than it is for the main course.
Back when my kids were young and we were going to Disney World, turkey legs used to be a popular food item. I never got them, but I can see why they would be popular – easy to carry around and, if you’re vising from another country, it would seem iconically American.
“With regard to turkey being a shit choice, Vance made the smart choice to serve barbecued ribs, right?”
No, because the point wasn’t just that turkey isn’t the best choice, it’s that Americans value tradition and we’ll keep fixing it and eating it because that’s what we do.