September 24, 2017

Does Trump — in the middle of an interview about the National Anthem controversy — give the finger?

You decide:



I got that from Perez Hilton, who is sure it's intentional and says "That's so boldly, wildly absurd, it's actually… kind of funny?? But seriously, after all the bull shit stunts, outright bigotry, and unbelievable ignorance this President has showed off that should legitimately cause outrage, this is just… hilarious."

I don't think it was an intentional finger. He was just preening his eyebrow. Want to see a President give the finger? It looks like this?



Miss him yet?

37 comments:

YoungHegelian said...

Well, how can you go wrong with political insight from Perez Hilton, after all!

Every time anyone uses their middle finger by itself for anything it looks like shooting a bird. I don't quite think this qualifies as a deliberate "fuck you" to anyone.

eric said...

The Trump I know is so clever he is hiding in plain site.

He speaks like a slippery politician, always saying things so that you can never figure out where he stands on an issue. Sorta like Bill Clinton, always triangulating.

Which means he was clearly being clever here and giving the finger.

Or.....

Trump is a very straight forward guy. Says what is on his mind even when it gets him into trouble. He doesn't hide a middle finger in a pretend eyebrow preen.

Pick one.

rcocean said...

No, its doesn't look like trump is imitating Bush II. Or maybe he's giving Bob Kraft the finger - only Trump knows. And who cares?

Trump lays it out perfectly. It's not about racism, bigotry, sexism, homophobia, blah de blah....its about respecting the flag, the country, the vets, the national anthem.

God what political genius. Somehow Trump gets his dumbshit opponents to constantly revel themselves. They hate the USA, "White" America...AND Trump.

rcocean said...

Trump isn't Mr. Subtle. He'd tweet out "Fuck you" rather than give someone the "ambiguous" middle finger.

Fabi said...

That's the first time I've seen the W clip with audio -- even funnier!

Achilles said...

I am participating in my first political boycott. The left doesn't get to have it both ways anymore.

Now bake me a cake.

Big Mike said...

Miss him yet?

Every day since January 2009.

rcocean said...

"Every day since January 2009."

Bush-II was better than Obama.

OTOH, he got us in a useless war in Iraq. Bush_II was Mr. Amnesty and Open borders. He loved "reaching across the aisle" to Ted Kennedy. Bush II supported every bad trade deal the USA ever made. He bailed out all AIG and all the big banks after they ripped off the county. He spent $$ like a sailor. He certainly was "compassionate" but in no way a "Conservative".

He didn't support TRump in 2016 - but seemed to think Hillary was better.

So, no I don't miss him. Trump is cleaning up Bush's mess.

cubanbob said...

Missed him yet? Yes indeed, for eight long years. Now, not at all.
Whatever else you can say about Trump, shy isn't one of them. If he means to give the finger, he won't be shy about it.

Michael said...

From the day he left office.

Narayanan said...

My suspicion is that when Bush pronounced Islam religion of peace he put Professor Bernard Lewis in a position of gainsaying him or shut up there after.

traditionalguy said...

Yes, he shot the NFL Billionaires Club a bird. Trump is a master at branding communication. Or maybe he always fingers his temple during national TV interviews.

traditionalguy said...

And in case you missed it, Trump just spent Friday night shooting an hour and a half long Bird at Jeff Sessions and threw in telling Kraft to fire their team SOBs.

Amadeus 48 said...

Obama used to scratch his cheek with his digitis infamous when he talked about the Republicans in Congress. I thought it was juvenile and unworthy of the presidency.

Same thing here.

William said...

Could be, but that's not Trump's style. I'd assign a higher probability to Obama's dust flicking and subtle finger to Hillary during the 2008 campaign.

Mr. Groovington said...

Bush had a tight team.

Mark said...

Great. NBC halftime show just decided to go all political with reaction to Trump. Click.

Because that's exactly where I will turn to when I want politics -- football. Not.

Big Mike said...

Obama made surreptitious flipping the bird into an art form.

Quaestor said...

An obvious case of early onset senile dementia. It's Paris, darling, P-A-R-I-S. Yes, some idiot named you after the sin city of the surrender monkeys — that's not your fault — but that's no excuse not to pronounce and spell your name as it appears on your birth certificate, passport, et cetera... What did you say?... What do you mean Perez Hilton isn't Paris Hilton with brain damage? He's a guy?... Oh, a gay guy. Well, that explains a lot. Who is Perez Hilton?

Mr. Groovington said...

Blogger Big Mike said...
Obama made surreptitious flipping the bird into an art form.
...
Agreed, very impressive.

sestamibi said...

I don't think Trump did what you think he did, but a US vice-president once most certainly did:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/theoval/2013/08/23/obama-nelson-rockefeller-1976-middle-finger-binghamton/2690043/

Bad Lieutenant said...

Funny how you show Bush as the counter example when it was Obama who turned this into a quote-unquote art form. As for President Trump, I believe that it was accidental / incidental and if it was a sly gesture, it was slier than the previous occupant of the office, and I dare say he will get away with it. Obviously I am inclined to give the president the benefit of the doubt, but my read is no.

Gahrie said...

How about Obama? He was constantly flipping us off.

Mr. Groovington said...

Blogger Bad Lieutenant said...
but my read is no.
...
yup

Michael Fitzgerald said...

"after all the bull shit stunts, outright bigotry, and unbelievable ignorance this President has showed off that should legitimately cause outrage, this is just… "

http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/imgLib/20140717_ObamaMiddleFingerL.jpg

...Obama.

MathMom said...

I've never seen Trump brush his hair away before. In fact, when he invited a woman to come on stage to see if it was real, he said that he uses hair spray, which would hold it in place. It wasn't windy, he didn't appear to be sweating. So, I think his hair was not out of place. He did sort of flick it at the end like maybe there was sweat on the finger after the move, but I think he was giving the finger to Kraft.

Obama did it all the time, and used a face with it that let people know he was doing it. I'm not thrilled about seeing Trump do this, if indeed he meant to do it.

jwl said...

President Bush quip, visiting us here in Canada way back when, made me laugh - “I frankly felt like the reception we received on the way in from the airport was very warm and hospitable. And I want to thank the Canadian people who came out to wave -- with all five fingers -- for their hospitality.”

readering said...

W lost the country with Katrina and POTUS in danger of doing same with Maria.

Bad Lieutenant said...

MathMom, look closely at the video, he indeed did have some hair out of place, and he didn't necessarily have to be brushing at his hair on the top of his head, he could have been wiping an itchy drop of sweat from his eyebrow.

Me, I generally use the index finger for most desks, but if sometimes I find myself using the middle finger, which after all is the longest, I don't worry about it too much. Neither, I submit, should you.

Bad Lieutenant said...

W lost the country with Katrina and POTUS in danger of doing same with Maria

If you say so.

Yancey Ward said...

The context doesn't support the assertion that it was deliberate.

Etienne said...

Someone should have told the idiot air force guys to quit saluting the open space in front of them. "At ease you brainiacs!"

You don't have to salute the commander until he is within eye distance of you.

Sheesh...

rhhardin said...

If you're famous women let you give them the finger.

rhhardin said...

I've lost my dictionary of French hang gestures but there's a strong form that involves both arms.

MathMom said...

Me, I generally use the index finger for most desks, but if sometimes I find myself using the middle finger, which after all is the longest, I don't worry about it too much. Neither, I submit, should you.

Just trying not to reflexively dismiss this behavior in my choice of president (Trump) when I found it disgusting in my last one, for whom I did not vote.

I have become quite conscious of which finger I use after watching Obama flip off Clinton, McCain, Ryan, and several others, because I wondered if those events were possibly accidental. I realize that if I am going to touch the bridge of my nose under my glasses, I use the middle finger. It just works better. And if I were in the public eye under constant photographic surveillance I would probably change my technique, remove my glasses, and use my index finger, because when I use my middle finger, the index finger naturally pulls back and looks like I'm flipping the bird.

People in the public eye need to think about all these things, IMHO, because there is always a camera around, and people with bad intent will turn a photo op into something unintended, like they did with pictures of Rep. Michelle Bachmann eating a corn dog.

If you think it wasn't a surreptitious gesture, I'll agree. I really hope it wasn't.

Bad Lieutenant said...

MM, I really don't think it was. He's not like that. He wouldn't be furtive, 1, and 2, unlike Obama, Donald Trump wasn't raised by wolves, and probably never met anyone who does that gruesome little stunt.

MathMom said...

Bad Lieutenant -

Thanks for the chat. I'll go with your analysis of this. And, I especially like your "raised by wolves" comment! Priceless.