It's all about looking good in front of the marks.

To me, this looks closer to any of the completely empty promises he made in the 2024 camoaign OR every pledge of charity he ever made OR just about every boast about his latest real estate project.

They are all swings at a golf ball with no attempt at follow-through.

With lots of previous practice, I fought back the urge to point out that he appeared to have no problem talking and merely said the staff would see him as soon as it was possible.

I explained to the man that the staff was busy taking care of two patients who were not able to breathe. He angrily responded with "Well, I'm having trouble breathing TOO."

He had a cold (and no obvious signs of distress).

When I worked as a tech in the ED many moons ago on one particularly busy afternoon I responded to a man in his late thirties calling out "IS ANYBODY HERE?" from the open ward area.

Every bed in the ED was occupied with one with a pneumothorax from a gunshot and another in full cardiac arrest.

I consider an inability to feel empathy for anyone outside of their IMMEDIATE family the key characteristic of American "conservatives".

There may also be a correlation with an outrageous sense of entitlement and simultaneously expressing deep victimization in comparison to folks much worse off.

...
It might take some time for it to sink in but I guarantee that if Trump falls, a good number of the MAGA voters will claim to have not voted for him in 2024. "I just couldn't stay on board after the way he treated the Veterans"

I'm sure most people agree with you, including the Congressman who had the Zoom call ready.

The hope is that at least one Trump voter who makes it a point to say "Thank you for your service" to every veteran they meet might experience a moment of mental clarity.

...

Donald then meets Roy Cohn who decides to take him under his wing (after a $10,000 check)where he takes the aggressive legal strategies of Cohn to heart as his primary coping mechanisms.

Attack, attack, attack
Deny, deny, deny.
NEVER admit to losing.

I'm having a hard time where Rubio claims switching to Calibri was wasteful of resources and I'm thinking "isn't switching back just as wasteful?".

In my dotage (but before senility) I finally got a handle on how humans tick and "I just didn't like it" is the most likely (and most common) reason.

I visited Wikipedia to sneak a quick peak about Calibri and this paragraph stood out:

<<Calibri was the default typeface of Microsoft Office and much other Microsoft software, replacing the previously used Times New Roman.>>

I ruled out true grift* even though greed is a rampant disease these days since 1) he will never be in a situation where he will not be able to find money when necessary and 2) money and position are just attention/self-valuation to him.

The rich think very differently about money.

Add in a large family with an absent (namesake) father, his outsider adolescence and drug addiction and being educated and smart enough to know that there is no consistent accepted basis for any of his MAHA bullshit and ATTENTION WHORE seemed a good theory.

Thoughts?

Tell me where I'm wrong, if I'm full of it, or if this aligns in any way with reality.

I do know that followers of conspiracy theories contradicted by evidence are sucked in by the illusory "special knowledge" that a select few are right and the rest of us are wrong.

I wonder if the "charm" that Nuzzi fell for was not true charisma but Love Bombing.

I know nothing about of RFK Jr's life other than what I gleaned from the news over the years.

Anyone with a more detailed, possibly more intimate, knowledge of the current Secretary of HHS is welcome to chime in.

I am grateful to @mrsbettybowers.bsky.social for seconding my opinion.

I am convinced he became a leader in the anti-vax movement because the spot was available and its adherents shower him with love and praise for defending their scientifically indefensible positions.

I followed your warning post from the blog Balloon Juice and your nym just got you an immediate follow. (I lived in Chicago for several decades before moving to Austin.)