Just for Xeets and Giggles (09.21.24)

Black Nazis. Another RFK, Jr. scandal. Another would-be Trump shooter. Ashley Madison receipts. And a baby hippo named Moo Deng captured our hearts. This week took us through yet another wild ride.

Trump of course was much of the same.

While undecided voters really began to annoy the rest of us.

I don’t watch Bill Maher much these days, but watching Stephanie Ruhle of MSNBC and Maher destroy the smug NYT on-the-fence, need-to-hear-about-her-policies Bret Stephens was admittedly great television.

Trump continued to spew lies about Haitians.

I don’t have the clip of this, but here’s the gist of another gaffe.

Wait. Vance said what? Haitia? Heyshuh? Then this response happened. Seriously, it’s amazing. (For the TikTok link, go here.)

The funny part is, Vance is asking people to pay $20 to come see him these days.

The blowback from Trump’s early morning meltdown over Taylor Swift was fun to watch unfold.

That Biden surprised-to-see-MTG meme resurfaced perfectly. I love a good mash-up!

This was pretty on point.

People lined up to take their best shots.

Someone actually found the ideal Taylor Swift video response. The timing even lined up! (If you prefer the TikTok link, watch here.)

Folks began to riff on a theme, and this is why I love the internet. I mean, it would be like Ronald Reagan saying this:

King George III weighed in next.

And one of the Founders:

Taking us way back…

And over to Middle Earth.

Trump opened the gates to anti-immigrant racist garbage, but progressives were ready for it.

Then came the news that another potential Trump assassin had waited for 12 hours in the bushes near where Trump was playing golf. The alleged would-be assailant fired off no shots and never had a clear sightline to the ex-president.

All political violence is bad and should be condemned. Assuming that even was attempted political violence.

We really should not make light of it.

Incidentally, the alleged would-be shooter voted for Trump in 2016 and recently supported a Haley/Ramaswamy ticket while spouting Covid conspiracies. Not exactly “our” guy, but that didn’t stop Republicans from saying “they” are trying to kill Trump. Right.

Next news story please!

One of my fav commentators summed up the crazy.

When they caught the guy, he wound up giving high meme energy.

If you know the comedian on the left, this is a near perfect remix.

If you’re not on Instagram much, here is the reference, which is a brilliant silent piece by Caitlin Reilly.

Cast her in anything I say.

Oh, wait, I’m not quite done with the shooter who never shot part. The right tried to shame us into clutching our pearls over it.

Their conspiracy theories began and were quite funny at times.

Ron Filipkowski serves his humor dry and ice cold.

Trump blamed the Democratic condemnations of his fascist rhetoric for the almost attempted second attempt, and the right tried it on, too.

So, to recap, bad debate, go after Taylor Swift, stir up racism, “survive” another “attempt” on his life… none of it is working! I know! People hate insurance costs, right?

It takes some time and effort to pull all this together each week. If you want to show your thanks and tip your writer, please consider becoming a paid supporter at just $6 a month!

Okay, on to Act Two. About that Black Nazi.… If you missed the news, here’s what Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson of North Carolina, who wants a promotion to the top job in the state, has made clear now to voters:

Once again, Filipkowski with the spike.

The hypocrisy is a feature not a bug by now.

It’s pretty hilarious that he put all that damning stuff down in writing on a bulletin board of “Nude Africa.”

And it needs to be said.

Can’t guys just be guys any more?

Let’s get the Stefon summary to round things out.

The same night the Mark Robinson story broke, RFK, Jr. made the news again, right on cue. This time the scandal involved a reporter, Olivia Nuzzi of New York magazine, who’d been assigned to write about him. Here’s how I first heard about it.

Wait, Olivia Nuzzi was involved with RFK, Jr.? I felt like this lady trying to make sense of the news.

It was seriously a career-ending kind of move.

If you don’t know about Nuzzi, she did some amazing puff pieces for RFK, Jr. while regularly bashing on Biden for his age. Suddenly a lot of things made infuriating sense. Here she is propping up Maggie Haberman of the NYT:

Nuzzi also once wrote this because you can’t make this up.

New York magazine put her on leave immediately, and I love this tweet.

There’s honestly now endless material to work with.

Given the stream of crazy from the crazy Kennedy, I felt the same relief:

Also, this is quite true.

Imagine being married to RFK, Jr. through all of this.

The new revelations alone would drive you batty.

Slow clap for this take.

And Pete Davidson had to show up eventually.

Thursday wasn’t quite done, though! Remember that hacked email dump from the swingers site Ashley Madison? Guess whose email apparently was in it! None other than far right purveyor of false cat rumors, destroyer of important DEI programs and best buddy of DeSantis, Christopher Rufo! That according to investigative journalist Lauren Windsor:

What was even happening?

The schadenfreude was thick and juicy.

To understand what a bad day Rufo was having…

Journalists take note.

To top it all off, Rep. Matt Gaetz was in the news again, with federal filings showing three witnesses identifying him at drug-filled parties with an underage sex trafficking victim. That’s a developing story, but this made me lol

Imagine having that close a name to him.

In other news, Ted Cruz is now polling behind Colin Allred in the Texas senate race according to Morning Consult.

This is an old meme but it popped up again given all the stories of white women in Springfield claiming they were victims of catnappers.

There was big news in the animal world this week as a baby pygmy hippo named Moo Deng, living at a zoo in Thailand, captured the hearts of fans worldwide. I am one of them. So here is a tribute to Moo Deng.

First, a video montage.

Feel the fan love, Moo! A clip. (For the TikTok version, go here.)

There were the clueless commentators, of course.

Moo wouldn’t mind being called a “wet beast,” but why so hippo-critical?

We all step in it sometimes.

Cultural memes began to proliferate.

No Jabba the Hut reference?

Live your best life, Moo Deng. Screw the haters.

Remember what I said about Pete Davidson earlier?

In otherwise boring human affairs, this still caught someone’s eye.

I had to look at the fine print on this resume on LinkedIn:

It’s that time of year again, so you know what that means.

This lady got her man good.

Here are some men acting silly. (On Tiktok here.)

With a newborn in my home, I approve of this PSA.

I normally end each edition with a dad joke, but this week I honestly didn’t find a good one to Kuos things out.

I’ll see myself out.

Jay