Trump now blames ‘mutants’ for indictment in latest Truth Social rant

TechyDad@beehaw.org to Politics@beehaw.org – 226 points – Trump now blames ‘mutants’ for indictment in latest Truth Social rant
independent.co.uk

In a characteristically rambling post on Truth Social, Mr Trump said that the indictment ‘hoax’ was the fault of misfits – and mutants

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This unfortunately is a new dog whistle for trans individuals :(

See here: https://www.politico.com/video/2023/04/11/florida-republican-calls-transgender-people-mutants-881289

Lol, is that the best they've got for us? I call myself worse things in the mirror. Mutant just makes me feel cool and interesting.

Considering the traditional stories and plot points central to the X-Men comic/series this is kinda ironic

As I recall, "Mutant, and proud" was a repeated line in the more recent movies used as a rallying cry.

Using the term as an insult is probably counterproductive given the popular media association of stories of people being oppressed for their differences.

IIRC, the X-Men was originally an allegory for the Civil Rights movement - complete with some "mutants" wanting to work within the system to improve things and others wanting to tear the entire system down.

Of course, all persecutions tend to share similar themes even if details change so the story of the X-Men is easily applied to LGBTQ folks as well as any other group that's persecuted against.

And if someone sides with the people who persecuted the X-Men without realizing that this makes them the villains, they really are idiotic.

what a weak derogatory term. "You sly filthy mutants. You are just like those Teenage Turtles or that weird Wolverine guy."

honestly wear it as a badge of honor. Having comic book series made about your character traits is kind of sick. Ngl even for trump thats weak.

So, trans people have superpowers now? Neat.

Yeah, we shapeshift really really slowly!

Trump and this post are deeply distressing, but this comment has made me laugh out loud sporadically now for like 18 hours. I just want you to know I treasure you :D

I'm going to be honest but Trump blaming mutants was not on my bingo card. Is it X-Men variety or more TMNT?

The trans kind :(

https://www.politico.com/video/2023/04/11/florida-republican-calls-transgender-people-mutants-881289

Absolutely disgusting language.

Considering how X-Men has long been an allegory for queer identity and the attempted oppression thereof, I hope trans people will take this as the unintentional compliment he didn't intend it to be. In this world where conformity is choking the planet and multiplying suffering, being different is a superpower.

Fuck Trump with a fork along with anyone who supports him.

I just have to tell you your comment really struck a chord with me.

In this world where conformity is choking the planet and multiplying suffering, being different is a superpower.

This is beautifully worded. Keep fighting the good fight and spreading your kindness :)

Oh…oh my fucking god. I thought that Trump couldn't get any lower in my estimation, but here we are.

Going lower than anyone thought was possible is one of the few things Trump excels at.

Fucking stupid republican probably doesn’t realize the irony in calling trans people Marvel comic “mutants”. The mutants were mistreated by conservatives in those books and rounded up and sent to camps. A holocaust survivor championed their cause leading many to fight back against the human Nazis.

It’s the Warhammer 40k variety and we’re all about to get bombarded from the heavens in the name of the God-Emperor of Mankind for tolerating their presence on Holy Terra no less.

Is Swamp Thing a mutant? It'd explain Trump wanting to "drain the swamp"; maybe he was being literal?

Omg, Trump DC villain confirmed? lol

But not a supervillain. More of a secondary, background villain who takes orders from someone higher up.

He's a villain alright, just not a super one.

"What's the difference?"

Presentation!

a Megamind reference, here of all places? take my upvote, it is all I have to give.

Every time I hear "Swamp thing" I think about this wonderful song.. Please...enjoy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6XFX7vP8i8

Swamp Thing is actually an Earth Elemental.

there had been dozens, perhaps hundreds, of Swamp Things since the dawn of humanity, and that all versions of the creature were designated defenders of the Parliament of Trees, an elemental community which rules a dimension known as "the Green" that connects all plant life on Earth.

I can't prove it but it really, really feels like this is his way of grabbing the transphobic voter base of the right without actually saying something direct about transgender people. He uses words like MUTANT and lets his potential voters read that however they want, because he knows that voting group is pretty much the only ones supporting Desantis, who seems to base his entire platform on hate and fear.

I am just imagining him giving a speech about how professor X is with the “deep-state” lol

Republicans talking about Trans people like Nazis talking about Jews episode #853

More like "Republicans talking about Trans people like Nazis talking about Trans people"

The first of the famous nazi book burnings were targeted at an institute studying and trying to understand trans people.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institut_f%C3%BCr_Sexualwissenschaft

I'm so glad you replied to that comment with this. I immediately thought the same thing when I read the original comment. Thank you for spreading this important information that too little people know!

Thank you. I think a lot of people think only of the Jewish genocide when they talk about Nazi crimes. While they definitely were hit the hardest and were at the forefront of Nazi hate Germany systematically persecuted communists, LGBTQ and the Sinti and Roma communities as well.

jesus christ it keeps getting worse ._.

History be rhyming like it's Eminem.

Fascists are inherently derivative. That's why they inevitably burn themselves out, they were all out of ideas to begin with.

This makes a lot of sense. But when I look at terrorist Putin, or Winnie the Poo whatever the fuck, seems like people don’t really care.

“Evil thrives on apathy and cannot survive without it.” ― Hannah Arendt

Yeah I'm borrowing that phrase if you don't mind chef's kiss

...God this makes me so mad. This place was based as hell and not only did the Nazis ruin it, West Germany looked at what happened afterwards and went "meh, 'salright, I guess."

Dehumanization is a page straight out of the authoritarian handbook.

I learned how dangerous dehumanization is when I went on a tour of the Holocaust Museum in DC. (SIde note: I recommend going there. It's not a "happy" place to visit, but it's an important one. Give yourself half a day for the museum and half a day to mentally recover. )

At one point, you can go through or around one of the train cars that transported Jews to the death camps. I walked inside and stopped. The plaque had said how many people were crammed inside, but I couldn't mentally fit that many people in the train car.

Then, I realized my mistake. I was trying to fit PEOPLE. Even though the people I was trying to fit in were imaginary, I was still treating them like people. Once I tried fitting human shaped objects into the train car, I could easily fit that many.

Once you dehumanize a group of people, the door is opened to do anything you want to them because all societal guardrails for the treatment of your fellow humans are removed.

Relevant Pratchett passage:

There is a very interesting debate raging at the moment about the nature of sin, for example,” said Oats.

“And what do they think? Against it, are they?” said Granny Weatherwax.

“It’s not as simple as that. It’s not a black and white issue. There are so many shades of gray.”

“Nope.”

"Pardon?”

“There’s no grays, only white that’s got grubby. I’m surprised you don’t know that. And sin, young man, is when you treat people as things. Including yourself. That’s what sin is.

"It’s a lot more complicated than that . . .”

“No. It ain’t. When people say things are a lot more complicated than that, they means they’re getting worried that they won’t like the truth. People as things, that’s where it starts.”

“Oh, I’m sure there are worse crimes . . .”

“But they starts with thinking about people as things . . . ”

— Terry Pratchett, Carpe Jugulum

Terry Pratchett gave the world so many wonderful things, this definitely being one of them.

I wish that we still had him, even if he would hate what the world is becoming.

Absolutely, the man was a treasure. At least we still have over forty books of his wonderful world to enjoy and explore. He is sorely missed though.

He hasn't been shy about talking about trans people. He's guided by the applause lines, constantly a/b testing which ones get him a bigger response, and since the ecosystem of the right has been building us up as the new bad guy, the crowd loves to be reminded that they should be mad about us.

3 more...

Has anyone checked Jack Smith for adamantium claws?

Well at least "mutant" carries the recognition that it's not a matter of choice. If the tiny trans population is solely responsible for the indictment, then surely that means we're superior mutants at that 😏

What does it mean if the X-Men are out to get you?

Probably that you are secretly building killer robots, that will take over the world in the future.

"REALLY BIG FUNDRAISING, EVEN GREATER POLLS, SINCE THE RADICAL LEFT INDICTMENT HOAX WAS INITIATED BY THE MISFITS, MUTANTS, MARXISTS, & COMMUNISTS! THANK YOU"

That must be why Republicans are trying so hard to reduce the budget. They want to free up money so they can spend it building Sentinels.

"THE MISFITS, MUTANTS, MARXISTS..." He loves that alliteration even if it makes no sense.

They've been twittering, teetering and totally gaying it up!

Wow, he's complaining about Twitter 3 years before it came online. The other day I found a video of Henry Rollins complaining about YouTube in 1985.

I get the joke, but for those that don't - "twittering" meant "the act of talking quickly and nervously, saying things of very little importance or interest" - which is why they named the site Twitter (or rather, "Twittr" which is what they called it back then due to the Flickr-led trend of dropping vowels).

But that You Tube reference in 1985 - I'm trying to figure out what he meant by that back then, and I can't, because freakin' YouTube dominates the searches.

I just watched it again for the umpteenth time and finally figured out that he's probably saying "U2," but it sure comes out sounding like YouTube.

Calling their site Twitter always baffled me - wouldn't people be put off by what you're implying? - or impressed me with their frankness. Why not mindlessblather.com? Doesn't roll of the tongue the same way...

How long until conservatives try to cancel Marvel for spreading pro-mutant propaganda?

Well, X-Men has already been compared to the experiences of the LGBTQ+ community so really they should already be upset at them.

it's like he's playing "guess who" board game, blaming everyone but himself and making sure everyone gets a shoutout

Exactly. I also raised my eyebrows when he recently started calling people far right lunatics.

lol bruh, that's your camp xD

This poor guy would love nothing more than to be able to demonize the people he truly despises: the poor, white, rural people who form the base of his support. Whether or not he goes to prison, the ultimate curse that has been inflicted on him is that he will never get the respect of people he himself respects -- the well-heeled upper-crust to which he nauseatingly aspired with warped attempts at imitation like the gaudy entrance of Trump Tower. To his everlasting torture, polite society will never have a kind word for him, so he's damned to touring what we in America call the ruby-reddest parts of "red states" and there to accept the adulation of crowds he does not respect or like. Imagine the tension of holding these two things to be true at once: "these people are stupid as hell" and "these people love me more than anyone." I wouldn't wish that kind of agony on anyone but Donald Trump.

Tone down the maliciousness a bit, and Trump would be a good inspiration for Alpha Complex's Friend Computer.

Yeah, but he couldn't get anything more than Orange security clearance.