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Barbara Fox's avatar

Oh Susie Susie Susie…..you give alcoholics a bad name, and you have not one clue about the disease even if your daddy Susie, was loud and obnoxious. There is no such thing as an alcoholic PERSONALITY…. Read and Learn Susie Susie Susie….Alcohol tends to exaggerate whatever personality you have…..Trump is and always has been, an obnoxious, narcissistic, greedy grifter with Zero character. Nothing to do with booze. Of course, we should know anyone willing to work for Trump has zero character, so you are in good company SUSIE !

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Nana Booboo's avatar

She's trying to launder her reputation before she jumps ship

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George Hicks's avatar

Right, but obnoxious people are obnoxious to the second power when they drink. Trump has not a trace of either introspection or inhibition, and is obnoxious to the third power at all times and without the encouragement of alcohol.

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Barbara Fox's avatar

That is what I said. Alcohol intensifies whatever personality you have. I have a few friends who are functioning alcoholics and are quiet as church mice

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Nana Booboo's avatar

The reason Wiles took part in eleven (11) separate interview sessions and spilled a little bit? To get started on laundering her reputation before she gets off what everyone knows is a sinking ship. (She'll be leaving sometime early in 2026, just watch.)

Credulous or ignorant observers may fall for the Ethical Mormon Wheeze when Wiles was known as DeSantis' Ice Queen before she made the cold calculation that DeSantis was a dead end and there was more of a future in Trumpism. She now has recalculated and is getting ready to reconfigure herself as an ex-Trumper in what she suspects will be a post-Trump era much like the post-Nixon era of 1974-1980, when nobody admitted to voting for Nixon.

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Katie's avatar

Great article as usual, Gabe. I love your work. Just wanted to share that so-called "Mormons", prefer to be called "members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints", or simply "Latter-day Saints", per the style guide https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/style-guide

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Michael A. Burke's avatar

You provide an interesting analysis, but I think there are a couple other ways to look at Wiles' interview "revelations." It's possible she's actually laundering Trump's reputation, not hers. She's showing he's not the all-powerful, corrupt figure that the opposition paints him as, and whatever sins he has are either venial or the result of over-reach in trying to change America for the better (from their POV, of course). That's why her remarks in context don't sound as bad as they do in the sound bites. This is the kind of thing that used to happen occasionally when I worked in Washington (Office of the Secretary of Defense mid-90s). It's also possible she is signalling who's in and who's out within the current administration, and who might or might have a future. I'd say she's tying to play us all. I won't address your gratuitous swipes at Joe Biden; they're not really relevant to the Wiles topic.

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Nana Booboo's avatar

Joe Biden has always had speech freezes and malaprops, especially in debates. They're a byproduct of his stutter suppression techniques, which encourages the stutterer to immediately substitute a word for whatever word he's blocked on. They get worse when he's tired or sick, and he was fighting off covid and jet lag at the time. (Notice how he sounded a lit better in post-debate interviews?)

Here's a good NYT article from 2019 describing his speech freezes and other gaffes, emphasizing that they're just speech gaffes and not an indication of bad mental function. (This was before A.G. Sulzberger decided he hated Biden for not bowing down to him.)

https://www.pulse.co.ke/story/the-many-ways-that-biden-trips-over-his-own-tongue-2024081901081188592

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John Galt's avatar

Making excuses for Biden's performance only weakens the Democrats' chances of winning in the future. Virtually everyone watching the debate could clearly see that he was cognitively impaired, and it wasn't because of a stutter or covid. Telling people not to believe their lying eyes is not a good campaign strategy. It didn't work for Biden and it doesn't work for Republicans when they try it with Trump.

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Nana Booboo's avatar

You worship Ayn Rand. Of course you will believe anything bad about a man who isn't a selfish bigot like she was.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/misleading-gop-videos-biden-viral-fact-checks-rcna133316

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Finn Frock's avatar

Biden and advisors damaged the party.

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George Hicks's avatar

I agree. I had a lot more respect for Jill Biden before Joe's frailties became so obvious.

One thing we may have to conclude from these interviews is that SW doesn't seem to see Trump as any more deranged or impaired today than he was a year ago, so people scrutinizing his every move for signs of deterioration may need to get a new hobby.

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Nana Booboo's avatar

What "frailties"? He can walk and even ride a bicycle.

Read the 2019 article. He's had a life long history of gaffes and freezes that are directly linked to failures of his stutter suppression efforts.

It was only a few months later, when Bernie Sanders’s people, working with Republicans like Rich McHugh of Business Insider, started lobbing every smear they could, that the press (which wanted Trump back because he sold their subscriptions for them) decided to forget they knew about Biden's lifetime of speech difficulties

https://www.pulse.co.ke/story/the-many-ways-that-biden-trips-over-his-own-tongue-2024081901081188592

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George Hicks's avatar

He performed quite well in the debates before his first term. If you don't think he deteriorated while in office, I don't know what to say. He is a great man and was a very good president, but he should have stood at one term.

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Nana Booboo's avatar

Dude, the 2019 NTY article I keep citing literally describes where he froze and had gaffes in debates and speeches at least as badly as in the 2024 debate. Go read it. I dare you.

https://www.pulse.co.ke/story/the-many-ways-that-biden-trips-over-his-own-tongue-2024081901081188592

He was lucky in the 2020 debate in that he was well rested and wasn't getting over jet lag or covid (whereas Trump himself, as we soon found out, was just starting the covid encounter that nearly killed him).

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George Hicks's avatar

So I guess virtually the whole nation got it wrong? And Biden is just fine today and would be a strapping vibrant presence on the world stage now and for the next three years.

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Nana Booboo's avatar

How many of you folks who fell for the "cognitive decline" lies were spamming these doctored videos?

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/misleading-gop-videos-biden-viral-fact-checks-rcna133316

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Nana Booboo's avatar

People who hated Joe Biden damaged the party.

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Rosemary Ford's avatar

It appears that she might be one of the people who is able to stay in her lane. I might even go to the library and read the articles.

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Kay Alexander's avatar

Just human indeed. Can’t you imagine how wearing dealing with Trump regularly would be. And what a relief it would be to have a relaxed conversation with anyone, but particularly with a good listener.

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Paulie's avatar

Great article and interesting topic today! Thank you! Agreed!

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FirmFoundation's avatar

Overall excellent analysis (per usual) but you do have to dig deep to find the positive reasons that Wiles is excellent at her job (the pros and cons of issue stances aside).

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Michael Bower's avatar

The person and their integrity matter.

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Giulia Brofferio's avatar

Distracting journalists and the public should have been one of the reasons. Honestly this is not news of any consequence stop talking about it.

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John Galt's avatar

I don’t think this article quite succeeds in the neutral posture you seem to be aiming for. Your skepticism feels uneven. For example, you’re very charitable in explaining media failures around Biden as structural and human, but much quicker to dismiss alternative interpretations of the Wiles leak as projection or overthinking. Your psychological explanation is plausible, but it’s still speculative, and it’s treated as common sense while other motives are waved away. That selective generosity tilts the analysis. It’s smart and readable — just not as unbiased as it presents itself to be.

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Finn Frock's avatar

At least 250 million people already recognized the deepest flawed character in all of them. They all have lived up to Susie’s rant. Every truth will be revealed before the whole extremist cabal is terminated, impeached and/or imprisoned.

No healing needed here. Stopping these damaged souls is the priority.

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