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“Jeb Bush told me a story of a version of Chiang who wasn’t a fucking loser in every way” wow cool Marco, by the way you’ve gotten fat

Absolutely amazing that this all evolved out of Bush family tennis trash talk, the origins of which neither W nor Rubio have even the faintest idea

I love how culture works so much

There's a non-zero chance Rubio swings what he believes to be an ancient sword around his office going "whhiisshh shwisshh I am the golden warrior" just before his daily blast of coke up his nose and guest spot on CNN

I sometimes forget that Birchers basically act like they live in a badly written Final Fantasy fanfic.

Ok, so you good people heard Rubio say,"come down like Chiang" today,about Iran ? i heard him say it Fuqqing sicko nutters

"mythical" "Marco, the word you're looking for is 'legendary'. GOP fiscal responsibility is 'mythical'."

For those who don't know: this is a garbled folk reference to postwar China hawks who wanted the US to "unleash Chiang". GHWB would have known this phrase; IIRC, he used it jokingly/sarcastically, but his dumbass kids thought it meant... this. @joshtpm.bsky.social covered this long ago.

marco's basically the irl version of Wilson from House - his colleagues perceive him as likeable, he's got +2 handsomeness that produces some occasional saves, but he's a .22 caliber mind

Now I won't ever be able to unsee ruthless sword immortal "Chang" Kai Shek as the grandmaster of the Republican sect.

……. How is this real

@unavaleable.bsky.social how do you feel about this?

Real ones know that the Sword of Chang was forged out of the Holy Lance that pierced Christ's side

is this a tulpa or an OC

Also Jeb! is a bigger dork than I ever thought possible

omg. this is not... omg no. no. and othfn.

Chiang Kai-Shek as ancestor of the GOP? Chiang, a famously corrupt strongman loser under whose leadership a (potential) major power turned into a rump state? Hmmm....

I first came across that phrase in the Harvard Lampoon "Bored of the Rings" spoof. "On their heads were silken lampshades and on their brows were written many things, both fair and foul, such as "Unleash Chiang Kai-shek" and "I love my wife but oh you kid.""

I thought of other circumstances where Jeb might've said "I'm going to unleash Chiang," and now I need brain bleach

White Terror, amirite?

"conservative warrior" ...tf?

And yet, it makes sense in the worst way possible.

Part of a long tradition of deifying Chinese historical figures.

Are we sure he's thinking of Chiang Kai-Shek and not, like P.F. Chang?

anticommunism is still somehow an important glue for the right wing, like 35 years after the fall of the USSR