This Ham Sandwich is Distracting You From Trump's Ties to Russia

[poorpete]

THIS HAM SANDWICH IS DISTRACTING YOU FROM TRUMP'S TIES TO RUSSIA!

Trump wants you to think, hmm, that's a ham sandwich. Well don't. He is currently being investigated for his relationship to Russia, and every time you do not think of this fact, you are putting the results of this investigation into jeopardy! I know what you might say, well, you care about dozens of things at a time: Trump's ties to Russia, healthcare for all, Syria, your family, your children, your work life, your community, a picture of a ham sandwich. Sadly, we all thought that before November 8, 2016. Everything since then has been a distraction from his ties to Russia: Attacks on everyone he hates like Meryl Streep, his two executive decisions to terrorize Muslims seeking refuge, his beefing up ICE to terrorize Illegal Immigrants, his rolling back of regulations to protect LGBT people and the environment. Even his failures, like the AHCA debacle today, are all distractions from his probably-traitorous dealings with the Kremlin. Stop thinking of those things. We can only think of Russia, because if we don't, how will the FBI ever be able to conduct their investigation? The FBI needs our brain focus!

Not today, ham sandwich. Not until Trump resigns. By the way, while being distracted by Trump's resignation, ultra-conservative Mike Pence will be sworn in as president. When will you ever learn!

[Kyle]

I understand the joke, but if you substitute "fabrications about wiretapping" with "ham sandwich" and then the joke becomes an unfunny reality.

[Bonefish]

Trump's ties to russia are distracting you from the truth. The truth? Our political process is deeply, perhaps fatally, flawed and corrupt.

After the most expensive political campaign in our history, we were faced with choices between two horrible candidates, as evidenced by their approval ratings. I think there's some serious criticisms on both sides in terms of policy, political and financial connections, and, character. Picking and choosing which particular flaws you can accept and which are deal killers is a complicated and personal issue. But at the end of the day, we we're given options that the majority of Americans simply didn't find appetizing.

We were also given a horrible exposure to the biased way our news media functions, to the degree that it is almost propaganda. Fake news notwithstanding, even our most respected and largest media organizations have become more entertainment than informative. This has been a steady process since the early 2000s, and I think it's finally paying dividends: we have become more polarized, and immunized against dissenting opinions and views. With our "rivals" now so easily defined and so diametrically opposed, there is no room for compromise or tolerance. Anyone who disagrees is now a supporter of the rival faction, rather than a dissenter for your own.

Yes, the Russians tampered in our elections, but how did they do so? Possibly they infiltrated our internet infrastructure and gained access to private information, information they selectively released to discredit the faction they opposed. They may have very well bribed high officials. However, there's a whole lot of doubt raised by this. How do we know what the Russians did in the cyber realm(geezus. We sound like dorks)? Well, we were told by our intelligence agencies. Though there was some initial disagreement.

Of course, when one looks at the past few decades, there's all sorts of things about those intelligence agencies that raise red flags. High profile members of counter espionage posts have been compromised by russian spies. Our intelligence services have supported coups in various democratic countries, or have supported what can only be considered terrorists with information, arms, and finances. Our security services have been engaged in a long term period of unconstitutional surveillance of americans. And plenty of it? It bore no relation to national security or need. When NSA admins stalk their ex spouses, or use their access to information to exploit financial opportunities in the country? That has nothing to do with protecting us. And it happens because not only does the capability exist, but that it's actively opaque and unaccounted. Who watches the watchers?

Back to our political process, it is again, dominated by the wealthy, especially in the form of corporations. With the concentration of wealth in this country, this increasingly places more political capital in the hands of a small pool of people. This has lead to politicians, on both sides of the aisle, choosing to vote for the interests of their donors, rather than the desire of their constituents. It seems that the radical partisan divide finds common ground in greed, and little else.

Yeah, the Captain of our vessel is stupid, but there's still an iceberg in the water, and we haven't changed course.

[Kyle]

Shit just got real. I'm going back to the ham sandwich gag.

[Stan]

Awww. That reminds me of a time when my daughter was about 4. She made a ham sandwich during Thanksgiving dinner. The recipe is two slices of ham with butter between them.

Oh, and I've been saying that bribery and its legal substitutes has been controlling the country for a while now. The scandal isn't that Russia interfered with our elections. It's that Trump's team actively cooperated with the Russians while they did it. This is far beyond the Watergate break in.

[poorpete]

awe, hehe, that's some good sandwich talk.

What would we expect from a Trump presidency if he didn't conspire with Russia:
- Conspiratorial ramblings. ✔ (Trump-specific)
- Attacking celebrities and political opponents ✔ (Trump-specific)
- A Muslim Ban ✔ (Trump-specific)
- Try to Repeal Obamacare ✔ (a GOP promise since 2010)
- Go after illegal immigrants ✔ (an issue for decades)
- Try to build a stupid wall ✔ (Trump-specific)
- Hiring incompetent people (bigotry counts as incompetence) ✔ (an evergreen issue)
- Unnecessary Wars (an evergreen issue)
- Environmental ruin (an evergreen issue)

Now the first two can be seen as valid distractions, but again, it's no different than what we expected. The others are things we should care about, and there's a level of privilege viewing these as mere distractions to keep Trump from getting impeached (which I am all for). They are ruining people's lives. Anyways, I think everyone got what I was going for, but I like complaining about complainers.

BTW, this is directed, in a subtweet kind of way, for people that I see post on Facebook and Twitter, not anyone here.

[Zen]

Hey, Trump represents corporate America. This is actually a massive improvement in efficiency, if you look at it the right way! He's eliminating the middle man!

[FlameBlade]

45 said that on day one, he alone can fix us a ham sandwich. Day 65, and I am worried that he has yet to deliver (where's my money for not delivering food under 30 minutes?) And if he does, it will be incredibly moldy.

Enough with this disappointment.

[Kyle]

[Phoebe]

This whole Russia situation astonishes me. I can't get past the part where my grandpa is spinning in his grave. Poor grandpa, so glad you missed this. I want to go live on an island somewhere away from the humans, except global warming might wipe out lots of islands, and lots of islands are too tropical. Off the coast of Maine sounds ideal; maybe I can eat scallops all day. Anyway, things are so bad I'm to the point of hoping there are innocent explanations, because the alternatives will not end well in the world where 40% of people are both furious and operating totally free of facts. OTOH if the results are medium negative maybe the stock market will finally correct down.