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(YouTube)   Trump defending his COVID-19 testing disaster: "Read the books." Reporter: "What books?" Trump: "The manuals." Reporter: "What manuals?" Trump: "Read the books"   (youtube.com) divider line
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5176 clicks; posted to Politics » on 01 Aug 2020 at 12:12 PM (2 years ago)   |   Favorite    |   share:  Share on Twitter share via Email Share on Facebook



212 Comments     (+0 »)
View Voting Results: Smartest and Funniest


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dsmith42 [TotalFark]
2020-08-01 2:39:46 PM  

SurfaceTension: The.anti-Larry: Mad Scientist: Since when has Trump ever read a book?

[Fark user image image 260x372]

I don't think he actually read the book. I think he read small sections and came away with the idea that "positive thinking" equates to "wishful thinking." And because he's always had the means, virtually anything he wished for came to him, he believes, magically. So he thinks he can just declare "the disease will go away by April" and it magically will.


He didn't read any of it. He grew up in the church and was married in it. Twice.
 
twat_waffle
2020-08-01 2:45:51 PM  

CVGScorch: GranoblasticMan: Mad Scientist: Since when has Trump ever read a book?

I would be legitimately surprised if he's even read an entire pamphlet.

He can't name even one famous Jewish sports legend.


Rod Carew would probably be the only person he could think of... So, yeah. You're absolutely correct.
 
chrismurphy
2020-08-01 2:52:37 PM  

Metastatic Capricorn: shastacola: Jonathan Swan

I like his style a lot. He knows when to let the subject speak. He knows when to badger. Most of all, he knows his stuff and can follow up... something sadly lacking in reporters these days.


It's amazing how a foreign accent can paper over the dipshiattery the American accent has become, even to my own ears.
 
Thatguy!1984
2020-08-01 2:52:52 PM  

italie: He's toast.

//well, in his case, a whole loaf of toast


Next time I go out to breakfast, I'm going to order a loaf of toast just to se what I get.
 
henryhill
2020-08-01 2:57:04 PM  
i.pinimg.comView Full Size
 
someonelse
2020-08-01 2:58:43 PM  
I kinda want the interviewer to do a full stop until Trump says which "books and manuals" or admits he doesn't know any. But I know you can't do interviews that way.
 
Sarek of the Edmund Fitzgerald
2020-08-01 3:05:58 PM  

MurphyMurphy: fluffy_pope: J45Picker: And now a message from Herman Cain, "one of the good ones."

[Fark user image 680x501]

A 'Cloud American'?

Not bad. I love fantasy role playing.

Do they get more hitpoints than Americokras?
[i.redd.it image 500x445]


There is...so much to unpack there.
 
suebhoney
2020-08-01 3:07:00 PM  

AAAAGGGGHHHH: "Read the manuals" is the new "Study it out".


I see it as the new "read the transcript"
 
ox45tallboy [TotalFark]
2020-08-01 3:07:08 PM  

MurphyMurphy: fluffy_pope: J45Picker: And now a message from Herman Cain, "one of the good ones."

[Fark user image 680x501]

A 'Cloud American'?

Not bad. I love fantasy role playing.

Do they get more hitpoints than Americokras?
[i.redd.it image 500x445]


images.pushsquare.comView Full Size
 
AlgaeRancher [OhFark]
2020-08-01 3:09:17 PM  
The correct answer is "My bookstore doesn't carry "Mien Kampf" where did you get your copy?
 
shoegaze99
2020-08-01 3:11:10 PM  

Night Train to Wakanda: kbronsito: He wants us to order Time Life's Mysteries of the Unknown. To learn about demon semen, the reptilian deep state, alien DNA in our vaccines and pyramid silos, you gotta read the book

[YouTube video: Time Life Books "Read the Book" Mysteries of the Unknown Commercial from 1989]

God, those books were amazingly well put together. I would love to have the whole collection.


Complete or near complete sets are surprisingly affordable. The books were such big sellers they are commonplace. I snagged the full 33-volume set for about $145, or $4 per book, and there are even better deals to be found. This set of 18 is just $55, for example, just $3 per book.
 
shoegaze99
2020-08-01 3:13:30 PM  

nytmare: Except you're never going to get the truth out of Trump. Most of the time he doesn't even know what the truth is because he doesn't care. His life and persona consist entirely of weasel words and BS. Maybe if you managed to interview him under penalty of legal perjury you might drag a handful of items out of him but even then he mostly couldn't answer because he doesn't know jack shiat.


Of course you're not going to get it from him. You know that going into it. The point is to press him for it regardless. Let him stumble or lie. Let him reveal himself.
 
whosits_112
2020-08-01 3:17:04 PM  

some_beer_drinker: italie: He's toast.

//well, in his case, a whole loaf of toast

i bet he can smell burned toast


"I smell toast. Smells like it is burnt toast. Some people like their toast burnt. That's what they are telling me."
 
Carter Pewterschmidt [TotalFark]
2020-08-01 3:20:03 PM  

Veloram: On the one hand, you have us liberals who will watch this and be like "Farking how? How can anyone support this? How can anyone think this guy is smart or good at anything?"

Then on the other hand, you'll have conservatives who will watch this and be like "Squirm, libbies, squirm!"

They dont care or even think hes smart or good at anything. The only thing they care about is stigginit. This will in no way dissuade them from that now-prime directive. So long as they can make you tear your hair out, theyre winning as far as theyre concerned. And they will just as soon burn it all down than let a liberal gain an inch.


I said in a recent thread that there is maybe 30% who will never change their mind and will vote Trump even if he literally came to their house, shot their dog and pissed on their carpet.
But there is probably 30% who can be swayed. People who will listen to facts and reason. They are the ones to focus on, forget trying to reach the first 30% because you'd be wasting your time and money.
Trump won even though he lost the popular vote thanks to literally a few thousand votes in a few, specific, key, areas. It will only take a small swing among those floating voters to give Biden a big win in the EC.

I was wrong in 2016 and thought Hillary was going to win, and until Comey announced his reopening the emails investigation with days to go I think that was true.
But I think Trump will lose big time this time. And he's going to spend the next three months in office biatching about it and whipping his supporters up into a fury and it's not going to be pretty. If they get worked up about having to wear a mask just imagine what they're going to be like when Trump loses the election.
 
Carter Pewterschmidt [TotalFark]
2020-08-01 3:22:26 PM  

thatguyoverthere70: buckwebb: I think he believes that the only way to win is to get out there and talk.  He can't do his rallies, so he needs outlet to talk to the MAGA.  I can't believe his campaign team thinks any of this was a good idea.

But he wants to do it so they have to let him.

Someone suggested that these interviews are basically his debate prep.


Has no one told him that you're supposed to to your mock debates in private? Because if this is his debate prep then he's letting Biden and his team see exactly what he says and how he reacts, and giving him plenty of stuff to bring up in the real debates.
 
billstewart
2020-08-01 3:22:38 PM  

Mad Scientist: Since when has Trump ever read a book?


Especially, the "manual" that the Obama Administration left him on pandemic response planning.
 
Some Junkie Cosmonaut
2020-08-01 3:25:05 PM  

italie: Who allows this to happen?

Either they've lost control of him, or someone is intentionally aiming the aircraft at the ground.

https://twitter.com/ManlnTheHoody/status/1289425255300177921?s=19


That'd be answer #2, comrade.

/follow the money
//follow those that provide the money
///FSB
 
whosits_112
2020-08-01 3:25:29 PM  

SurfaceTension: The.anti-Larry: Mad Scientist: Since when has Trump ever read a book?

[Fark user image image 260x372]

I don't think he actually read the book. I think he read small sections and came away with the idea that "positive thinking" equates to "wishful thinking." And because he's always had the means, virtually anything he wished for came to him, he believes, magically. So he thinks he can just declare "the disease will go away by April" and it magically will.


Kind of reminds me of Spacestar Ordering

Fark user imageView Full Size
 
italie
2020-08-01 3:28:51 PM  

Xcott: italie: He's toast.

//well, in his case, a whole loaf of toast

He's come across like this in lots of interviews, including the recent Chris Wallace interview.  Shouldn't he have been toast a long time ago?


We didn't have an election a long time ago.

//Fully aware none of the GOP care. They're toast too.
 
Carter Pewterschmidt [TotalFark]
2020-08-01 3:30:38 PM  

snowshovel: Norquist Vagprobe: And just think, this November almost half of the electorate will STILL be too apathetic to vote.

That's what happens when you nominate someone like Biden.


True. I like Biden, and think he was a good VP. But is he really the best candidate the Democrats can come up with? I'm not American so I haven't got a say, but even running Hillary again would have been better. The Republicans have thrown everything they had against her so there's nothing new they can come up with and she would have plenty of chances to bring up Trumps physical health, which was one of his biggest claims against Hillary in 2016. Those mystery visits to Walter Reed?  Struggling to walk down a ramp? Using two hands to drink a bottle of water? The video of him walking that suggests a minor stroke?
 
snocone [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2020-08-01 3:30:42 PM  

thealgorerhythm: snocone: In a nation of laws this would be game changing.
Not so much here.

There's no law against the President being a stupid motherfarker. And Trump is the farking dumbest, he's got W, Ford, and Buchanan beat hands down.

Unfortunately.


I was speaking of the laws that used to apply to USA requiring removal of a dangerous criminal fool in a position of power.
 
whosits_112
2020-08-01 3:31:00 PM  

rolladuck: wejash: His campaign team consists of morons who think he's a genius. Or a few amoral grifters in it to siphon some of the spice before the God Emperor eats it all.

I have the physical appearance that one would normally associate with a Trumpet. Overweight white male, raggedy beard, veteran, middle aged, usually wear a tshirt, jeans and a baseball hat.

It's really tempting to join his local campaign staff and pay myself for services rendered, grifting cash from the campaign and sending in fake receipts.


Are you my twin?
 
Carter Pewterschmidt [TotalFark]
2020-08-01 3:42:33 PM  

someonelse: I kinda want the interviewer to do a full stop until Trump says which "books and manuals" or admits he doesn't know any. But I know you can't do interviews that way.


The famous Paxman-Michael Howard interview - Newsnight archives (1997)
Youtube IqU77I40mS0


BBC journalist Jeremy Paxman interviewing Conservative former Home Secretary Michael Howard.

Plus of course, British Prime Ministers have to do PMQ every week and answer any question put to them by any MP in the house, on any topic, with no notes, no warning, no prep.
 
ViolentEastCoastCity
2020-08-01 3:43:37 PM  

Smoking GNU: ViolentEastCoastCity: He sounds like an anti-vaxxer.  "DO YOUR RESEARCH!!!!111"

*weeps*

....

He is an anti-vaxxer. Or at least spewed their stupidity on a number of occasions.


Ew really?  I must have missed that with the zillion other ridiculous things he's said and done.
 
dericwater
2020-08-01 3:50:52 PM  

snocone: shastacola: cameroncrazy1984: shastacola: This is the Jonathan Swan interview that's going to air on HBO on Monday. By all accounts it's an absolute disaster for Trump.

Even worse than the Wallace?

I mean, if it's anything like the clip, I believe it

Yes. It's supposed to be worse than that.

Just dream a little dream that the next one gets even worse.


The emperor is revealing to all of us that he is indeed naked. I mean, most of us know this. Just that some of us are blind to the fact.
 
dericwater
2020-08-01 3:58:41 PM  

Carter Pewterschmidt: snowshovel: Norquist Vagprobe: And just think, this November almost half of the electorate will STILL be too apathetic to vote.

That's what happens when you nominate someone like Biden.

True. I like Biden, and think he was a good VP. But is he really the best candidate the Democrats can come up with? I'm not American so I haven't got a say, but even running Hillary again would have been better. The Republicans have thrown everything they had against her so there's nothing new they can come up with and she would have plenty of chances to bring up Trumps physical health, which was one of his biggest claims against Hillary in 2016. Those mystery visits to Walter Reed?  Struggling to walk down a ramp? Using two hands to drink a bottle of water? The video of him walking that suggests a minor stroke?


One key attribute of a "great" candidate is how well the person can unify the party. Biden basically slammed the door shut on further considerations by around mid-April. That's what unifying the party looks like.
 
Smoking GNU
2020-08-01 4:05:27 PM  

ViolentEastCoastCity: Smoking GNU: ViolentEastCoastCity: He sounds like an anti-vaxxer.  "DO YOUR RESEARCH!!!!111"

*weeps*

....

He is an anti-vaxxer. Or at least spewed their stupidity on a number of occasions.

Ew really?  I must have missed that with the zillion other ridiculous things he's said and done.


Google shows many hits on the subject as far back as 2016. Not gonba be linking cause i'm on mobile and this phone is starting to show its age, busy fighting Grimgore as Imrik in a siege, and i'm lazy.
 
namegoeshere [TotalFark]
2020-08-01 4:09:14 PM  

J45Picker: And now a message from Herman Cain, "one of the good ones."

[Fark user image 680x501]


Holy shiat that's racist.
 
theknuckler_33
2020-08-01 4:10:09 PM  

Ker_Thwap: When you're lying, it's not really helpful to just rephrase your answer with slightly different words.

People are saying unfair, untrue things about me...
What people?
Lot's of people... many people...
What specific person said that?
Smokebomb!


most of them, all of them, any of them.
 
Slide10000
2020-08-01 4:18:41 PM  

Alphax: Norquist Vagprobe: And just think, this November almost half of the electorate will STILL be too apathetic to vote.

You think there aren't enough reasons to be motivated THIS year of all years?


There are LOTS of reasons to vote this year.  Unfortunately, lots of people may think "it's in the bag -Trump* is gone" and then not bother.
 
Lurk Who's Talking
2020-08-01 4:33:09 PM  

lolmao500: Reporters need to tell him to take his meds. He's mentally deranged.


Would love to see a reporter who, either at the "suggestion" of his home office or because the reporter is tired of being treated like a pierce of crap by Trump lashing out, asks Trump questions to make him lose control on camera. Were I nearing retirement age and/longing for a few last years interviewing the winners of the FFA awards at the Lusk/Niobrara County Fair Sheep Dip Competition, I would ask Trump questions to send his BP into the Red Zone, and continue asking them after TRump told me the "Inerview is over," "Get Out," Get Out Now," "Security!" "Take him out of here" "Get Him out of Here!" "Covfefe whargarble!" I would try my damndest to stay until I was dragged out (I'd take the blame for the cameraman who, of course, would argue he couldn't leave me and a developing story). IF my last vision of the Offal Office was of a screaming, spitting, spinning, chest-clutching Trump, I could accept all that followed afterwards with a giggle.
 
kokomo61
2020-08-01 4:40:43 PM  

shoegaze99: Night Train to Wakanda: kbronsito: He wants us to order Time Life's Mysteries of the Unknown. To learn about demon semen, the reptilian deep state, alien DNA in our vaccines and pyramid silos, you gotta read the book

[YouTube video: Time Life Books "Read the Book" Mysteries of the Unknown Commercial from 1989]

God, those books were amazingly well put together. I would love to have the whole collection.

Complete or near complete sets are surprisingly affordable. The books were such big sellers they are commonplace. I snagged the full 33-volume set for about $145, or $4 per book, and there are even better deals to be found. This set of 18 is just $55, for example, just $3 per book.


I always wanted The Gunfighters.

The Gunfighters 1980 Time Life Books Old West Commercial
Youtube 7UW5I5nV64A
 
ViolentEastCoastCity
2020-08-01 4:43:06 PM  

Smoking GNU: ViolentEastCoastCity: Smoking GNU: ViolentEastCoastCity: He sounds like an anti-vaxxer.  "DO YOUR RESEARCH!!!!111"

*weeps*

....

He is an anti-vaxxer. Or at least spewed their stupidity on a number of occasions.

Ew really?  I must have missed that with the zillion other ridiculous things he's said and done.

Google shows many hits on the subject as far back as 2016. Not gonba be linking cause i'm on mobile and this phone is starting to show its age, busy fighting Grimgore as Imrik in a siege, and i'm lazy.


Oh, I definitely didn't doubt you.  I'm just... disappointed and exhausted.
 
middlewaytao
2020-08-01 4:53:56 PM  
www0.alibris-static.comView Full Size

Fark user imageView Full Size
 
kpaxoid
2020-08-01 5:02:30 PM  
I'm struggling to get the point.

Why give Trump to repeat well-rehearsed and well-repeated lies?  "There were 12,000".  Not in the video but "Antifa protesters blocked/scared people from attending" ... OK, maybe it got edited out.  And so on.  I see no point in repeating old lies when 3.7 years in, apparently Trump's lying is completely acceptable in that no one does a damn thing about it.

If the purpose is to show how incompetent he is, ask him questions like: "What steps have been taken to ensure a reliable uncontaminated food supply during the pandemic?", or, "What benefits has the United States seen so far from the new trade agreement with Mexico and Canada?".  Questions without rehearsed answers.

And don't accept superlative generalizations.  Make him be specific.

The Borat in me wants to ask questions like: "Can you give us an update on the CIA agents who are being held captive in Iceland?".
 
I want that sauce Morty!
2020-08-01 5:03:33 PM  
You remind me of the babe.
What babe?
The babe with the power.
What power?
The power of voodoo.
Who do?
You do.
Do what?
Remind me of the babe.
 
JimmyTheHutt
2020-08-01 5:17:08 PM  

Fart_Machine: fluffy_pope: J45Picker: And now a message from Herman Cain, "one of the good ones."

[Fark user image 680x501]

[Fark user image image 680x501]

[media-amazon.com image 780x1147]


That show died too soon.
 
shoegaze99
2020-08-01 5:25:07 PM  

kokomo61: shoegaze99: Complete or near complete sets are surprisingly affordable. The books were such big sellers they are commonplace. I snagged the full 33-volume set for about $145, or $4 per book, and there are even better deals to be found. This set of 18 is just $55, for example, just $3 per book.

I always wanted The Gunfighters.

[Youtube-video https://www.youtube.com/embed/7UW5I5nV64A]


I went on a binge a few years ago getting Time-Life book sets, and this one is by FAR my favorite. If you are at all interested in the subject matter, I can't recommend it highly enough.

Gorgeous embossed faux-leather covers. Beautiful photography and art. They are DENSE with text. Every book is jam-packed with content. Despite knowing this period in history fairly well, I still learned a lot from them. And even though the books came out decades ago, they don't romanticize the settlement of the west and don't avoid dealing with a lot of ugly truths.

They're great. The set is totally worth the money.

My second favorite is Lost Civilizations. The production quality isn't as good (though the photography s great), but I love the subject matter.

Of all their major sets, the one I still haven't picked up is their WWII set. Otherwise I'm swimming in the damn things. It really is enjoyable pulling them off the shelf and casually paging through them on a lazy afternoon.
 
geoduck42
2020-08-01 5:30:11 PM  

shastacola: fluffy_pope: it's amazing Trump talks to Swan given how he mocks him.

Trump doesn't have a germ of self awareness. I'm sure no matter how stupid he looks to nearly everybody else, no matter how much of a fool he makes of himself he still thinks he just has to be the smartest guy in the room, facts be damned.


He does manage a flicker of it very occasionally, like that moment at the Nationals game where everyone started booing him.
 
Truck Fump
2020-08-01 5:33:18 PM  

make me some tea: Mad Scientist: Since when has Trump ever read a book?

Or a manual for that matter


Hey, watch it!
Plenty of guys don't crack the manual open until the equipment starts releasing smoke and sparks
 
FatherChaos [TotalFark]
2020-08-01 5:36:10 PM  
Fark user imageView Full Size


How can anyone watch that and think "There's the perfect president"?
 
geoduck42
2020-08-01 5:36:40 PM  

Carter Pewterschmidt: True. I like Biden, and think he was a good VP. But is he really the best candidate the Democrats can come up with? I'm not American so I haven't got a say, but even running Hillary again would have been better.


No, running Hillary again would have been literally the worst possible choice the Democrats could have made.

/Not particularly a Biden fan, but of course I will vote for him.
 
make me some tea [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2020-08-01 5:45:56 PM  

Truck Fump: make me some tea: Mad Scientist: Since when has Trump ever read a book?

Or a manual for that matter

Hey, watch it!
Plenty of guys don't crack the manual open until the equipment starts releasing smoke and sparks


Well sure, but Trump likes the smoke and sparks.
 
SharkaPult
2020-08-01 5:47:37 PM  

shoegaze99: kokomo61: shoegaze99: Complete or near complete sets are surprisingly affordable. The books were such big sellers they are commonplace. I snagged the full 33-volume set for about $145, or $4 per book, and there are even better deals to be found. This set of 18 is just $55, for example, just $3 per book.

I always wanted The Gunfighters.

[Youtube-video https://www.youtube.com/embed/7UW5I5nV64A]

I went on a binge a few years ago getting Time-Life book sets, and this one is by FAR my favorite. If you are at all interested in the subject matter, I can't recommend it highly enough.

Gorgeous embossed faux-leather covers. Beautiful photography and art. They are DENSE with text. Every book is jam-packed with content. Despite knowing this period in history fairly well, I still learned a lot from them. And even though the books came out decades ago, they don't romanticize the settlement of the west and don't avoid dealing with a lot of ugly truths.

They're great. The set is totally worth the money.

My second favorite is Lost Civilizations. The production quality isn't as good (though the photography s great), but I love the subject matter.

Of all their major sets, the one I still haven't picked up is their WWII set. Otherwise I'm swimming in the damn things. It really is enjoyable pulling them off the shelf and casually paging through them on a lazy afternoon.


My father in law had one volume missing out of the Seafaring Ships time life books set. After he passed away the second hand bookstore said a complete set would have netted almost $200 but parted out like we had to do they could give us $75. We called his friends seeing if he lent it to one of them but no one had it. I almost kept them, they were gorgeous books, just like you said, but it was a giant set and we had no room for them.
/threadjack
 
fluffy_pope
2020-08-01 6:09:15 PM  

middlewaytao: [www0.alibris-static.com image 267x400]
[Fark user image 500x374]


pictures.abebooks.comView Full Size
 
carkiller
2020-08-01 6:28:40 PM  

make me some tea: Truck Fump: make me some tea: Mad Scientist: Since when has Trump ever read a book?

Or a manual for that matter

Hey, watch it!
Plenty of guys don't crack the manual open until the equipment starts releasing smoke and sparks

Well sure, but Trump likes the smoke and sparks.


That's because he can blame the smoke on the sparks team, and the sparks on the smoke team, then sit back and watch the knife fights.
 
Butterflew [OhFark]
2020-08-01 6:37:19 PM  

italie: He's toast.

//well, in his case, a whole loaf of toast


He's certainly been smelling burnt toast
 
oopsboom
2020-08-01 6:48:48 PM  
"many people" is the farking voices trump hears in his dementia addled mind fragment
if you could get him to wear an earbud so you could whisper words and commands at him you could get him to do or say literally anything.

im not entirely convinced this isnt already happening
 
jerryskid [recently expired TotalFark]
2020-08-01 6:57:07 PM  

litheandnubile: you can make anyone look bad through editing


And in trump's case and all of his putin loving worshipers, you can make them look bad by just letting them talk.
 
Medic Zero
2020-08-01 7:16:50 PM  

shpritz: Medic Zero: shastacola: This is the Jonathan Swan interview that's going to air on HBO on Monday. By all accounts it's an absolute disaster for Trump.

On which program?

Axios on HBO.


Thanks!
 
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