Trump's 'Mutiny On The Bounty' Fantasy Will Not End Well

By Aliza Worthington — April 14, 2020

President Jackass not only needs a third-grade-level coloring book explaining states' rights to him, he needs to re-watch the movie he claimed was one of his faves this morning. In a tweet-trantrum, he vomited out some Scut Farkas-level bullying:

Tell the Democrat Governors that “Mutiny On The Bounty” was one of my all time favorite movies. A good old fashioned mutiny every now and then is an exciting and invigorating thing to watch, especially when the mutineers need so much from the Captain. Too easy!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 14, 2020

I won't even bother with explaining to the Republic-AN president why it's "Democrat-IC" governors, nor will I explain to him that the "g" in governors should be lower-case. We're so far beyond that, when the second part of the tweet is so truly sick and vicious. He seriously is giddy at the prospect of denying lifesaving supplies to dying citizens if Democratic governors don't do what he says.

Twitter pointed this out, but also mentioned he might want to be careful what he wishes for when placing himself in Captain Bligh's position:

Mutiny on the Bounty was about the ruthless, unjust, tyrannical Captain Bligh of the HMS Bounty who shackled his own crew and tortured so many of his own men that they mutinied against him. It’s fascinating that Trump sees himself as Captain Bligh. It’s quite terrifying as well.

— Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) April 14, 2020

Holy cow! Trump literally just compared himself to Captain Bligh from the 'Mutiny On The Bounty.' Someone needs to tell Trump that Bligh is one of the biggest movie villains of all time, and the movie ends with him dying in disgrace. #KingTrump

— Ms. Krassenstein (@HKrassenstein) April 14, 2020

Captain Bligh was the villain.

The job of a leader is to support and inspire, not to tyrannize and punish. Leaders foresee and prevent problems before they emerge, listen to experts, and keep people safe.

America could use some inspiration and support right now. pic.twitter.com/vdikcBAwxv

— Rep. Val Demings (@RepValDemings) April 14, 2020

My favorite part of Mutiny on the Bounty was when Fletcher Christian and his fellow mutineers put Captain Bligh in a small boat with his cronies and abandoned them in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

What's yours? https://t.co/nMM1XJP0SP

— emigre80 (@emigre80) April 14, 2020

Furthermore, a number of people pointed out that Captain Bligh, for all his flaws, at least knew technically how to sail a ship.

But the best answer couldn't be contained in a tweet, and unsurprisingly, it came from Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who, as it happens, had also just finished giving Donald the Dingbat that lesson in civics I referenced at the start of this post. Cuomo responded like a grown-up.

GOV. CUOMO: Let me make a personal point, not necessarily a factual point. The president did his briefing last night, and the president was clearly unhappy. The president did a number of tweets this morning where he's clearly unhappy. Did a tweet about "Mutiny on the Bounty," and governors are mutineers. I didn't follow the exact meaning of the tweet. But the basic essence of the tweet was that he was not happy with governors, and that this was a mutiny. The president is clearly spoiling for a fight on this issue. The worst thing we can do in all of this is start with political division and start with partisanship. The best thing we have done throughout this past 44 days is we've worked together, and we haven't raised political flags, even in this hyper-partisan environment....This is too important for anyone to play politics. If it is a no-politics zone.
[...]
What would happen if people refused to engage? They just refused to fight? And he (the teacher) said, "Sometimes it is better to walk away from a fight than engage it. Sometimes it takes more strength, frankly, to walk away from a fight than engage it." The president will have no fight with me. I will not engage it.

How long can it be before Trump starts tweeting great things about Hitler and Mussolini?

via @mr_electrico/Driftglass: