US Politics, June 2024: "Have there ever been this many cowards in power?"

Have at it.

no, I think the answer is no (ty Scott)

Good afternoon!

The cowardice is there, but I think it's that the GOP is now irremediably tied to the voters who love Trump and utterly reject any head of the party who respects legality or the democratic process, the voters who believe they are the only people who have rights or should have any power. Without those voters the GOP would be reduced to a fulminating rump. They could never muster a majority in either chamber of Congress or win a presidential campaign.

The GOP leadership knows this very well and they will never forsake Trump no matter how corrupt or embarrassing he is, because Trump holds the keys to their continuing power. Things will change only if the GOP self-destructs and must rebuild from the ashes.

One byproduct of current reality is that the people with the greatest wealth and power in the USA are now heavily committed to creating as many voters as possible who embrace completely anti-democratic and authoritarian means to power, as long as it denies power to anyone they despise. As has been frequently pointed out, up until the 2000 election and Bush v Gore, the veneer of respect for democracy was carefully preserved beneath code words and euphemisms. Now the GOP voters demand the pure product with no watering it down.

the GOP is now irremediably tied to the voters who love Trump and utterly reject any head of the party who respects legality or the democratic process, the voters who believe they are the only people who have rights or should have any power. Without those voters the GOP would be reduced to a fulminating rump. They could never muster a majority in either chamber of Congress or win a presidential campaign.

I would argue that very soon because of those voters, the Republicans will be reduced to a fulminating rump. Because those people are not a majority, or anywhere close to it. They're about 25% of the electorate.

For convenient reference, I'll sneak in a link to the previous thread, during which Trump was convicted of 34 felony counts in NY state:

US Politics, May 2024: They Shoot Puppies, Don't They?

Most of you probably don’t care but Politico seems to be subtly transitioning into “paid subscriber” territory - certain articles now launch a sub-window imploring readers to enter information.

something that concerns me is that there does seem to be an ongoing GOP project to make things dumber, they're constantly trying to cut into school budgets and social programs and libraries, makes me wonder if they just straight up think an electorate of idiots will keep voting for them

Yes?

An electorate a Christian idiots to be exact

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/06/03/tax-dollars-religious-schools/

ok I guess I should say obviously they've always been this way but it does feel they're being way more explicit about it recently, just the nonstop attacks on education and getting real weepy about student loan debt forgiveness with this attitude that just shows utter contempt for anyone who actually went to college

Frogbs, yes - I think that’s definitely in play.

Social media, man. Twenty years ago they would've met in a rural McDonald's over coffee or listened to a FOX News loudmouth on a Saturday afternoon show.

I think the Internet was one of the most incredible things for humanity ever and social media one of the worst.

Blogs and forums that used to go deep into particular niche areas have been replaced by - effectively nothing.

the comments sections took over

https://hechingerreport.org/colleges-are-now-closing-at-a-pace-of-one-a-week-what-happens-to-the-students/

I lived around the block from Newbury College back in my teen years.

yeah the thing with social media/the internet is you're able to be plugged in every waking hour, so it's real easy to update the talking points and marching orders in real time. like all the chuds now complaining about Trump's trial are zeroed in on some very specific things, whereas in the past those viewpoints would be reserved for those who watched 2-3 hours of FOX News a night. I don't think you'd get a guy like Trump if there weren't an all-encompassing apparatus around to instantly teach these guys exactly how to defend every bigoted or boneheaded thing he does.

social media has basically just become a vehicle for inflammatory rhetoric to spread like wildfire when previously it spread more like a common cold. that and has turned everybody into their own little press secretaries

and this is what you wind up with

Greene: Mr. Fauci. You’re not a doctor. You’re Mr. Fauci.

Fauci:..

Greene: I don’t need your answer. He doesn’t deserve to have a license. He belongs in prison! pic.twitter.com/BaGacYZ1vT

— Acyn (@Acyn) June 3, 2024

Someone please feed her to the wolves

even for her this is wild

Greene: You know what this committee should be doing? We should writing a criminal referral because you should be prosecuted for crimes against humanity. You belong in prison Dr. Fauci pic.twitter.com/Td023Cv3M7

— Acyn (@Acyn) June 3, 2024

xpost Why would you wish that upon those poor wolves

Hey Marge, just FYI, an undiagnosed personality disorder is not actually a personality.

If I were Fauci I would’ve moved to Spain or something by now

Those MTG clips are disgusting.

I don't have a system for measuring this, but I do think she's even more reprehensible than Trump. Possibly more dangerous, too, if she ever acquired real power--not sure whether she'd inspire the same irrational devotion.

she won't ever acquire real power or inspire any devotion near that level

"You belong in prison" is going to be very popular with Republicans for next 6 months at least

Oh I’m sure it will be, but I got to figure more than a few are afraid they bark too loud that some of their squirrelly “legal” deals they have done might flip into indictments.

Got to figure you start looking there is a whole lot of greasy deals out there that if given a real look probably could end in some legal jeopardy for some legislators.

You got to be pretty much a gold brick falling out of your luggage to get in any real problems.

Fauchi's so getting a few of these as presents:

https://i1.sndcdn.com/artworks-lRQ4xlRXeFcG7gXX-jzYWUw-t500x500.jpg

OK, so the Chinese made COVID-19 in a lab. And? So what? What does it change? If they did, then it's a bioweapon. If so, why didn't Donald Trump protect us from this weapon? Cut off trade to China? Declare war? It's so stupid.

i think we should all come together to look at what NYT thinks of the proceedings and then adopt a position that isn't theirs

speaking of, I knew Newsweek was bat shit but boy!

https://i.imgur.com/B1zZ3cZ.jpg

Dan Perry, lookit your doppleganger.

Robert J. Mcwhirter and Juan P. Villasmil are probably AIs

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jun/03/biden-close-mexico-border-immigration-executive-order

Joe Biden will this week sign an executive order to temporarily close the southern US border to asylum seekers in a sharp political U-turn aimed at winning support on a key voter concern in a presidential election year.

The US president is expected to sign the order as early as Tuesday to seal the border with Mexico to migrants when numbers of asylum claimants rise above a daily threshold of 2,500.

Mayors of several US border cities are expected to be present in the White House for Biden’s announcement.

Biden’s move echoes a similar approach adopted by Donald Trump in 2018 when he was president and reverses his one-time philosophical opposition to his predecessor’s hostility to migrants. When he was a presidential candidate, Biden denounced Trump’s policy, saying it upended decades of US asylum law.

Remove all age requirements and let's declare this kid president by acclamation (feel free to turn the sound off; the speech is empty-headed bullshit):

So sorry I was slow responding to your email, I was tied up watching this over and over again pic.twitter.com/1MT81CS440

— Aaron Fritschner (@Fritschner) June 3, 2024

That seems like a fucking stupid move to me

I might try to be more temperate but Newsweek was a cornerstone of my childhood and I’m absolutely livid about what it’s become, let alone the changeling in their bylines making me look like shit by association

Sorry that was xp to rob

yeah now more than ever, and even from a purely cynical electoral view, I don't see much to be gained by the Dems moving rightm especially on asylum/immigration -- they're basically just legitimating it as a crisis and then looking slow & weak in their response.

I'm a pretty staunch leftist, but I'm not a "Biden and Trump are the same" person, mostly because I was an immigrant to the US and later a naturalized citizen and I'm aware of Trump & Miller's violent & horrific goals. But Biden straight-up adopting Trump border policy is disconcerting, to put it mildly.

How about instead of announcing this policy, they spend a few weeks talking about how Trump is a felon? idgi

the answer is always: they saw some polling

xpost

They're doing that, too; this is from today:

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ilyxejcmhg2qwqomgu2umi5v/bafkreiekvi66wxf2dpgqikwxitycujwaprwftfqvbhxqfstbvue4w2tf5e@jpeg

In case the image doesn't render, it reads:

"Breaking Point": Trump Reups Promise of Violence

Vows of violence are not a bug, they are a feature of Donald Trump's extremism.

Consumed by his own rage and thirst for revenge, convicted felon Donald Trump is teeing up political violence, threatening the Constitution, and pitting Americans against one another.

Trump has excused the violence on January 6, promised to be a 'dictator' on 'day one,' bragged about and been found liable for sexual assault, called violent neo-Nazis 'very fine people,' told the Proud Boys to 'stand back and stand by,' and warned of a 'bloodbath' if he loses this November.

This unhinged man cannot be our president.

IIRC, Trump tanked a bill that would have done the same thing earlier this year.

many xp

haha at that c-span video

Yeah but at least if that shit bill passed they could tout some bipartisan BS xp

I think that's exactly why Trump made noises to tank it!

I don't know what that image is unperson, so I'm unaware of what they're "doing" in terms of disseminating that message (is that an ad? an email?), though I agree with all those points. I do think they should be leaning harder on the felon thing in that list, cuz right now it's front page news that Biden is "sealing" the border in obvious mimicry of unhinged extremist Donald Trump.

Ned's point makes it clear to me that the border exists in/as political myth at this point, so playing along with the GOP narrative is confounding

I kinda doubt there are people who know about what Biden is doing at the border right now who don't also know that Trump got convicted of a bunch of crimes last week.

I know no Democrats who place The Border among their top worries, only some who fret about The Border Issue, if you know what I mean. Maybe the Bidens think they'll win enough of those sainted swing voters.

I can tell you: the GOP are rabid about it. I hear it in my Cuban American family. They can't stop talking about it -- more than inflation.

xpost I also doubt that? I wasn't suggesting people were unaware of the conviction, but that it could be politically useful to demonize Trump over it constantly for a while. Sort of how the constant repetition that the border is a crisis has caused Biden to do a total 180 on policy.

agreed Alfred, it's unclear to me who this is aimed at

Nobody? I'm making a remark.

They heard that some guy in a midwest diner might vote for Biden if he was tougher on "the border issue"

Became a US citizen and a registered democrat today, fml.

seriously? congrats! welcome to our hellhole

got one question wrong on https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/questions-and-answers/100q.pdf (blanked on the name for the first ten amendments) but yeah seriously.

Bill O'Reilly is named after the Bill of Rights, that's how you remember it

I know the Democratic Party is a hot mess as well but I've been a D. partisan mostly all my life, outside of youthful stints as a Green or SWP

I can tell you: the GOP are rabid about it. I hear it in my Cuban American family. They can't stop talking about it -- more than inflation.

The constant fear of invaders is such a perennial and effective political trope. What boggles my mind about it under current circumstances living in a red state is that every construction crew around here — including the guys who put on my new roof a few weeks ago — are Latino. Restaurants, hotels, custodial services, etc etc. And everyone is totally fine with it, I never hear anybody complaining about the actual practical impacts of a large migrant population, because they are almost all to the benefit of the permanent legal residents. But that doesn't dampen its mythological appeal as an existential threat.

In California, everyone who's taking care of your grandma in the home is an immigrant, or maybe second gen

There was a recent article in the local newspaper business section pointing out that studies have determined that if Trump were to follow through with the mass deportations of undocumented US residents that he has promised as part of his agenda it would mean a net loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs for US citizens, too, because if you remove enough pieces from an economic structure, it fails and its failure takes down everyone's job who was employed in it. The ripple effects of Trump's "plan" would be more like shock waves.

Of course, he's only blowing smoke when he talks of 8 million deportations, but even accomplishing the bare outlines of this idea would cause massive and needless misery in return for no benefit to anyone whatsoever.

Texas already wants the Supreme Court to give them the capacity to not provide public education for the children of undocumented people. The fallout from that would be staggering, and the social implications are as terrifying as what they’ve done to women

Honestly, I just hope coastal states fucking ignore the SC

Quite a few blue states not on the coast.

Another reason why I won’t be voting for Biden in the fall: the caving in to racist anti-immigration sentiment via enacting policies to the right of Trump’s. Please please, continue to tell me how this racist geriatric genocidaire is the best president of your lifetime.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/03/us/politics/biden-immigration-asylum-order.html?unlocked_article_code=1.xE0.YNXK.p-ZHfLh4Y5ZJ&smid=url-share

Well, the choices aren't exactly great.

Either way, this decision is terrible.

We were looking at a bunch of population maps at work yesterday and I feel like everyone needs to be reminded that our numbers are going up only due to immigration and that population growth is a good thing.

South Korea’s in some trouble btw. I think they have a 0.7 pop growth

And that’s why there’s a huge wave of homophobia in South Korea, among other reasons

I also want to make clear: I understand voting for him, and don’t begrudge anyone who does. But the “best president of my lifetime” schtick might be true, but is so impoverished in its evidence, that it mostly goes to show that the US isn’t worth saving afaic. Talk about a shithole country

What it not a shithole country atm?

Uruguay.

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/simpsons/images/6/60/Uruguay.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20100724103022

Just curious, table, who would you say is the best president of your lifetime?

agreed Alfred, it's unclear to me who this is aimed at

― rob, Monday, June 3, 2024 4:17 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Nobody? I'm making a remark.

― the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, June 3, 2024 4:17 PM (yesterday)

I was puzzled by this yesterday and only just realized the confusion: Alfred, by "this" I meant Biden's decision, not your post! Sorry for the ambiguous pronoun :)

Remind me to mix you a Negroni at 5 p.m.

xxpost As Nas said, “Ain’t no best.”

xp nice. and I just got a bottle of amaro I've never tried. unfortunately, I left it in my friend's car and can't remember the name

I wanted to buy some Amaro Nonino the other day but it's like $55 now

^^ Biden Did This ^^

I feel your pain, f. hazel

This is so adorable. Honestly, good on him bringing his grandson to work. Just some good innocent fun in govt.

*googles Rep John Rose + wife*

Oh....oh god. No. https://t.co/8uaQ1qUM1T

— Centrism Fan Acct 🔹 (@Wilson__Valdez) June 3, 2024

Rose and his wife Chelsea (née Doss) married in January 2011.[30] At the time, he was 45 and she was 21. He met her when she was 14.[31] They live in Cookeville, Tennessee, with their two sons.

A pretty good Times piece on Ryan Busse, the Democratic candidate for governor here in Montana. (Gift link.)

XP I typed out a Milkshake Duck post about that guy yesterday, but thought better.

I think that tack in Montana is a good one, even if it doesn't produce immediate wins. Red-state Republicans are so full of shit and so susceptible to outside money that they are easy targets and should be treated as such. We have a Senate race here in TN that I'm curious to see the result of — not because the Democrat (Gloria Johnson, one of the "Tennessee Three" and my own state rep) has a prayer of winning, but because she's running a full-throttle assault on Marsha Blackburn that is a contrast to the first time Blackburn ran against former Gov. Phil Bredesen. Bredesen is a centrist and ran as one, and what I hope is that Johnson does at least as well as Bredesen or better — which would show that there's no harm and potential gain in running straight at the loonys, not trying to soften their edges.

I think that tack in Montana is a good one, even if it doesn't produce immediate wins. Red-state Republicans are so full of shit and so susceptible to outside money that they are easy targets and should be treated as such.

As I've said here before, people in Montana are really pissed that their property taxes have effectively doubled this year — and Busse's been running ads and social media videos talking about the fact that Gianforte's own property taxes actually went down while his neighbor's went up. There's also a lot of anger about attempts to privatize land and streams that people have been hunting and fishing on for decades. It's not gonna be a blowout, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if Gianforte loses. And I'm pretty confident Tester's gonna hold his seat; he's about five points ahead of Sheehy, who comes across like a real asshole in basically any context.

the whole crux of the Hunter Biden case was that he lied about his drug use when he otherwise legally purchased a firearm

I'm known a few drug addict over the years, and the first thing they'll tell you is that they're not an addict... that's like a fundamental part of addiction, that denial. If he'd admitted he drank too much every day, would that have been a gun crime?

“Protesting peacefully doesn’t always mean you’re protected by the first amendment,” CPD Sup Larry Snelling, US Secret Service Director address DNC security plans pic.twitter.com/0gAOqtd6zK

— Paris Schutz (@paschutz) June 4, 2024

Chicago cops have just been itching for yet another excuse to beat the shit out of people. This summer is going to be an absolute shitshow.

Sadly that quote is correct as far as judicial precedent goes. "Time/place/manner restrictions" and all that. We've had 21 completely peaceful protesters arrested on the University of Tennessee campus, for being peaceful at the wrong place or time. But yeah, cops will interpret that as broadly as they want.

Yeah, you peacefully chain yourself to the courthouse steps, and they'll unpeacefully arrest you and take you to jail

worth noting that all this is because various liberal factions let the SC chip away at these rights in anti-abortion cases back in the 80's, specifically regarding a California tree-defense pepper spray usage case in the late 90s that had precedent as noted. support yr enemies right to peacefully protest, or it will bite you in the ass.

We now have "Free Speech Zones" lol.

I've dealt with that twaddle for at least 15 years

Have you ever hung out in a free speech zone? It blows your mind man

https://facts.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/48-facts-about-the-movie-say-anything-1687589831.jpeg

I went to a feee speech zone before they were cool

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/05/us/politics/trump-fbi-documents-threats.html

repeated use of the word "lie" rather than "falsehood" here. has some line been crossed in this particular case or is this a change of policy.

“ Representative Byron Donalds, a Florida Republican whom Donald J. Trump is said to be considering for his running mate, suggested on Tuesday that the Jim Crow era had some virtues for Black people while trying to persuade voters of color to back the former president.

Representative Hakeem Jeffries,Democrat of New York and the House minority leader, also condemned Mr. Donalds on Wednesday, making a thinly veiled reference to the congressman during remarks on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.

“That’s an outlandish, outrageous and out-of-pocket observation,” Mr. Jeffries said of Mr. Donalds’s comments, pointing to the lynchings and inequities that defined the Jim Crow era. “How dare you make such an ignorant observation? You better check yourself before you wreck yourself.”

Is there any democrat that’s not a complete dork

dorks can be perfectly good legislators. white supremacists not so much.

At least he didn't DAS EFX it

xp - yes, that is definitely the takeaway, that the Dems are complete dorks.

I do my own research, so I'm curious about these Jim Crow-era benefits

oh the takeaway is that republicans are racist. good to know

I don't see what's wrong with Jeffries' response tbh unless we're going to get into how two Black men talking about Jim Crow six or seven years apart in age should talk to each other.

check yourself before you wreck yourself. it's 2024

Rap lyrics are Jeffries' thing. Get used to it.

come on. pastors in Black churches use rhyming catch phrases, too, and it's no surprise they use it more conservatively than rappers. would you call Muhammad Ali a dork because he used rhymes in similar ways?

yeah Al Sharpton goes full Gil-Scott Heron at times

Rap lyrics are Jeffries' thing. Get used to it.

I was reminded of this:

Democratic House Manager @RepJeffries closes his argument for impeachment evidence by addressing Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow with iconic bars from The Notorious B.I.G.:

"If you don't know, now you know."#TrumpTrial #HakeemJeffries #Juicy #Biggie #ImpeachmentTrial

— Ari Melber (@AriMelber) January 22, 2020

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTjaIaNO9sY

I think, instead of rapping, maybe trying tying trump to all the white power groups that support him and that he's "big-upped" in the past. or talk about how he handled black lives matter. or how he would post street fights on twitter where black ppl were beating up poor, innocent white ppl

finish the line Jeffries you coward

in other news

I’d still love you if you flipped burgers at Burger King @50Cent, I used to do that myself!

Thanks for the photo, great to meet you! pic.twitter.com/9TDsljs9WT

— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) June 5, 2024

I fail to see how a 53-year-old quoting rap lyrics from hits from his college days is indicative of anything other than the passage of time

Too bad we haven't had a Slayer fan in the House

Neanderthal '26

in fairness to Jeffries, he does seem legit committed to dropping bombs on moms

oh snap

Grisso would you like to be my running mate

I nominate myself for Secretary of the Posterior.

Grisso would you like to be my running mate

you'd be doing us a really big favor

Is there any democrat that’s not a complete dork

I keep getting an Ilhan Omar ad that starts with “Donald, let me say that I’m your biggest hater” and I cringe every time. Q

She wants to say "Fuck you"

Don't we all

Neanderthal '26

automatic endorsement

Chairing the Morbid Angel Caucus

Can I be poet laureate

it's an unpaid position, but sure

I wanna be drug czar

Negronis for everyone!

I wanna be drug czar

And you can be my mule girl

you can call me al

My little pusher mule giiiiiiirl
(I will be your long lost pal)

I don’t find this stuff amusing anymore

amen and hallelujah!

Just introduced H.R. 8620, the TRUMP Act, legislation requiring the Treasury print $500 Federal Reserve notes featuring a portrait of the 45th President of the United States, .@realDonaldTrump. Read more here👇👇https://t.co/uahl0TeS63

— Rep. Paul Gosar, DDS (@RepGosar) June 6, 2024

campaign advert: they got time to vote on putting trump on a $500 bill, but they don't have time to vote on a bill to protect access to contraception.

amen and hallelujah!

Oh God, one of my pet theories from back in the day was that Trump was only running for president so he could get his picture on money!

Remember too that he had Mnuchin slowwalk the Tubman $20.

make a deal where Trump gets his face on the $500 bill but it's only good to pay for abortions and contraceptives and has to be honored in all states

I have a suggestion as to what Mr. Gosar can do with his idea

should have been a 1 billion dollar bill, he'll never own one himself

The Gosar statement is (predictably) so... fucking...dumb.

The Culture of Collector's Items has so much to answer for...

Gosar Introduces Legislation Creating $500 Trump Bill

Washington, D.C. -- Congressman Paul A. Gosar, D.D.S. (AZ-09), issued the following statement after introducing H.R. 8620, the Treasury Reserve Unveiling Memorable Portrait (TRUMP) Act, legislation requiring the Secretary of the United States Treasury to print $500 Federal Reserve notes featuring a portrait of the 45th President of the United States, Donald J. Trump:

“As Bidenflation continues to devalue our currency, the issuance of $500 bills featuring President Trump by the Treasury offers several practical advantages.

First, larger-value currency will empower Americans with the freedom of more tangible options to save and exchange goods and services.

Additionally, the absence of large-denomination currency issued by the Treasury encourages Americans to rely on digital banking, which faces greater vulnerability to surveillance and censorship.

Furthermore, from a collector’s perspective, these $500 Trump bills will become highly sought after, generating revenue for the government through increased demand for numismatic items. Collectors often covet currency with unique designs and historical significance and bills featuring the very popular 45th President will attract considerable attention from collectors. This will no doubt create a market for the $500 Trump bills far beyond their face value and increase the seigniorage earnings of the government, thus increasing overall revenues,” stated Congressman Gosar.

How does issuing $500 bills generate revenue? It literally increases the national debt by $500.

I had to go and click on what "pooped" and "pooping" are trending on Twitter/X, and that's frankly on me

soo uh is the idea that the federal government is gonna sell these $500 bills for $700?

soo uh is the idea that the federal government is gonna sell these $500 bills for $700?

This would absolutely work on Trumpoids. Hell, he could probably get $1000 for 'em.

we'll sell 1 for 700 or 2 for 1500

BREAKING: Steve Bannon ordered to report to prison by July 1 for contempt of Congress pic.twitter.com/NeofnnsmKJ

— MSNBC (@MSNBC) June 6, 2024

Shaved Garfield better pack his toofbrush

hobo without a shotgun

this story is such a nightmare. and its just one of many. people you've known for years - friends! - just turning on you in the weirdest way possible.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/06/us/politics/nevada-election-clerk-trump.html

ha, was just sharing that. a Trump-flag flying election official in a county that went 82% for Trump in 2020.

They blamed “undercover activists” for stealing ballots out of machines with hot dog tongs.

it is like religion and you can't really fight religion or change someone's mind about anything when they are in that deep. so, i don't know what the answer is. i kinda figured people were looking for a new religion here but i didn't think it would involve voting machines.

I've seen these people at 7-11 at the hot dog station. They're scary!

Some Lynch-ian photos in that story

"The county had such a nonchalant, trusting relationship with elections that once, after two candidates tied for commissioner in 2002, they settled the race by drawing from a deck of cards. But now two decades later, Elgan was being flooded by emails asking about the license plate numbers of her poll workers and the temperature data of her equipment storage room."

I don't know if I can read that story. These people are in so deep.

They have this quantum box they put the votes into and they can go either way when you open it

I get it (and everything else) but what I also get from that story is that they were only able to rustle up so many voters and half of them were clearly not there one way or another. It's weaponized crankery from people who deserve no excuse, but thinking this elderly widow leading the failed recall is just going to spend more of her time and energy on this only to keep losing provides a certain grim satisfaction. That's how you want to spend the rest of your days? You're going to be surprised at just how many more people you're going to alienate along the way.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/06/06/black-voters-2024-election-biden-trump/

“It’s really hard to vote because neither candidate is good. Biden is too old. Trump is too racist"

do people really think Biden is that much older than Trump?

You're going to be surprised at just how many more people you're going to alienate along the way.

Sometimes I wonder if they are actually all that surprised. I think many of these in-deep cranks want, on a certain level, to be alienated by friends and family because it only further confirms, in their twisted minds, that they are one of the few "right" ones who truly "get it". Whether they will come to regret this on their deathbeds will remain to be seen, but I think the alienation is welcome because it justifies the crazy.

It really just shows how hair dye and tanner affects the rubes

Also this: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/05/upshot/polling-trump-conviction-voters.html

Whether they will come to regret this on their deathbeds will remain to be seen

They may never. But I suspect they're as bone-deep insecure as Trump himself, and feel it even if they don't articulate it, even to themselves. They have to be right, to 'get it,' because otherwise that's a bit of a howling void there, and they know it.

To them this is a kind of religious service. On their deathbeds they will probably just wish they had fought harder for Trump.

i don't know why i keep being surprised by people here. millions of people believe that a fictitious God is going to come down from the sky and kill everyone who doesn't believe in him or whatever the fuck is supposed to happen so people believing that voting machines can be controlled by cell phones isn't really that nuts. my apologies crazy america. maybe you are actually getting MORE reasonable.

Actually, God is among us on earth and he lives in Florida

Carrot Top?

I am curious if the loons who are so paranoid about their vote being changed will just not vote? And will that be a significant number of people?

Carrot Top?

Actually, God is among us on earth and he lives in Florida

― Are you addicted to struggling with your horse? (Boring, Maryland), T

I'll PM you my address. Bring gin.

What if God was one of us
Drinking gin like some of us

I am curious if the loons who are so paranoid about their vote being changed will just not vote? And will that be a significant number of people?

― Are you addicted to struggling with your horse? (Boring, Maryland), Thursday, June 6, 2024 2:03 PM (six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I wondered this when I overheard a conversation in a card room that was like "Biden's gonna win, I'll tell you that right now, they'll make it happen" and I wondered the same. it would be really funny if Trump's rhetoric around the 2020 election actually did have the effect of supressing his own turnout in 2024

Anytime someone says "make it happen" I sing Mariah Carey, can't help it.

Trump put up a post recently encouraging mail-in votes, so presumably there's some vague recognition that the rhetoric may not have had a beneficial effect

lol does he? Orange Men Bad!!
― Are you addicted to struggling with your horse? (Boring, Maryland), Thursday, June 6, 2024 3:03 PM bookmarkflaglink

in high school my family went to Steak 'n Shake and he was there. one of the waitresses chased him down for an autograph

Actually, God is among us on earth and he lives in Florida

Explains the floods.

the Everglades are the place God fouled himself

Trump put up a post recently encouraging mail-in votes, so presumably there's some vague recognition that the rhetoric may not have had a beneficial effect

― Muad'Doob (Moodles), Thursday, June 6, 2024 3:19 PM (twenty-five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Those simpletons are just going to mail in pieces of paper with TRUMP written in crayon

What if God was one of us
Drinking gin like some of us

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, June 6, 2024 2:04 PM (thirty-seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Just tryin' to make his way home
Ask him about Dirty Work
By the Rolling Stones

More of this

https://bsky.app/profile/karoli.bsky.social/post/3kubn65nick2k

lol I like it, I mean it's totally disengenuous since it's pretty doubtful Trump has ever even fired a gun but I like forcing the chuds to think about it

Mixing in some disingenuous or technically false stuff is good because it invites a rebuttal and a rebuttal necessary requires repeating the allegation. “Convicted rapist” would be even better.

Trump’s gun license to be revoked following conviction, media reports say

he can hold the wooden gun Will Ferrell had in The Other Guys

in a way, it doesn't get any more American than this! #bestspringsteensongever

"In a second message, from late on the night of Oct. 14, Mr. Biden acknowledged he was “sleeping on a car” and “smoking crack” behind the minor league baseball stadium in Wilmington, after buying drugs from a dealer named Mookie."

Seriously he’s more representative of america and americans than trump is

it would be really funny if Trump's rhetoric around the 2020 election actually did have the effect of supressing his own turnout in 2024

I kind of think Biden should show up at Hunter’s trial and act like a dad. I assume republicans would lose their shit about a president “influencing” a judicial matter, but to most ppl he would look like a dad that loves his kid. Contrast that with Trump who calls his 4 year old kid a loser

“It’s gonna be a hot summer” https://www.reuters.com/world/us/naacp-asks-biden-halt-weapons-israel-he-seeks-shore-up-black-voter-support-2024-06-06/

Has there been any polling amongst black people that shows this as a particular issue? Not asking sarcastically

https://carnegieendowment.org/research/2024/04/most-black-americans-want-a-more-active-us-role-in-ending-the-war-in-gaza-and-protecting-palestinian-lives?lang=en

That’s interesting but not really indicative of where it stands as a priority for black voters

RTFA

https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/tnyradiohour/articles/senator-raphael-warnock-on-americas-moral-and-spiritual-battle

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jun/07/kari-lake-confederate-flag

this is rich:
Reached for comment about the video, a spokesperson for Kari Lake told the Guardian: “The Kari Lake campaign does not respond to British propaganda outlets. We stopped doing that in 1776.”

I'm putting this in the politics thread because it's fucking political. It's an article about the suicide rate in Montana (gift link), which is the highest in the country and only exacerbated by our gun laws, which amount to, "Would you like a gun? Here, have a gun." It's a tough read, but worthwhile.

Honestly the bit there that gave me a little hope was the preacher basically going "Yeah, you can't just pray it away."

Yeah, but then you get to the part where the high school's student counselor kills himself and...fuck.

No lie.

😞

Great read, thanks unperson.

I recommend it every time this issue comes up, but the phenomenon of right-wing white folks committing suicide yet refusing to alter or change the laws and culture of guns around them is addressed in a harrowing chapter of Jonathan Metzl’s ‘Dying of Whiteness,’ a truly essential and completely devastating book.

A great book, yes.

i went to KFC for lunch and saw an asshole with a t-shirt that I said "I protect my First amendment rights with my Second Amendment rights". these gun ghouls are just never going to die.

since I basically interpreted that as "I shoot people who disagree with me" I opted to leave him to his extra crispy and bounce.

i have a hard time leaving those ppl alone and my wife is worried i'm gonna get shot

growing up in rural Wisconsin I'm pretty used to seeing shit like that but yea when you take a moment to think about it comes off so psychotic, like I'm trying to imagine visiting another country and seeing people driving around with bumper stickers advertising how much they wanna shoot people, I'd think holy shit y'all are lunatics

https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/sen-fetterman-injured-maryland-crash/3881810/

maybe this will jar something loose and he'll be less of a ghoul? lol, right.

for unknown reasons, the Traverse rammed into the rear of Fetterman's vehicle.

fess up, which of you was it

for unknown reasons pleasures, the Traverse rammed into the rear of Fetterman's vehicle.

oh then it was David Cronenberg

Hamas strikes again

When they wheeled Fetterman into the operating room he looked at the surgeons and said, "Please tell me you're genociders."

when i moved to DC i remember reading some stat that said the city had the most incidents of cars intentionally hitting other cars. i was pretty shocked at the time but now i am one of those ppl

When they wheeled Fetterman into the operating room he looked at the surgeons and said, "But doctor, I am Pagliacci."

Hamas strikes again

― frogbs, Monday, June 10, 2024

and they've got right
to take my place
in the Dem horse race

Now I know how Princess Di felt

As the paste
Made from her English face
Spread between two intact princesses

Omg

That should been what Elton sung instead

this furiosa thread i dunno

Yeah Fetterman would fit into a Mad Max movie

nah we don't need another hero

Sorry if I missed other posts about this

https://thehill.com/business/budget/4652668-extending-trumps-tax-cuts-would-cost-us-trillions-of-dollars/?nxs-test=mobile

HUNTER BIDEN FOUND GUILTY...

OF KNOWING HOW TO PARTY

Yes!

Now we can move on...to Crooked Joe Biden.

About time we started to bring down the Biden Crime Family.

lol PK

i have to admit i'm curious how exactly MAGAstan is going to spin the current president's son getting over-prosecuted for gun possession. i mean i believe in them and know they can do it, i'm just wondering what the deflective talking points are gonna be

Hunter Biden guilty of Rule 34
Donald Trump guilty on 34 counts

Yeah, Hunter Biden should be a poster boy for Second Amendment gun rights.

What else is he going to hunt with?

My right to bear arms protects my right to smoke hubba

I think they're doing the right angle - "I'm in recovery and I accept the consequences of my actions" will actually resonate with quite a few Americans

There it is

https://newrepublic.com/post/182568/conservatives-conspiracy-theories-hunter-biden-guilty-verdict

Let me guess — Bidel let his son get convicted so he looks good in comparison to Trump, then will pardon him after the election

Uh Biden

i think it will be hilarious if he pardons him after the election

Stephen Miller: “The gun charges are a giant misdirection,” asserted Miller. “An easy op for DOJ to sell to a pliant media that is all too willing to be duped. Don’t be gaslit. This is all about protecting Joe Biden and only Joe Biden.”

LOL what the fuck is he talking about

Joe sold Hunter the crack

when the shrooms hit and i realize the beauty of the world all around me pic.twitter.com/rwAcQcHDLv

— Trey Smith (@SlimiHendrix) June 11, 2024

If only Republicans had the ability to conduct their own congressional investigation to prove the nefariousness of the Biden Crime Family.

Opinion | If Donald Trump was named anything but Trump, he never would have been put on trial for manipulating a presidential election he’d go on to win. Here’s why I’m calling on Hunter Biden’s judge to give him the maximum 25 year sentence.

— New York Times Pitchbot (@DougJBalloon) June 11, 2024

25 years for each laptop he's stolen from burisma

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/06/11/us/elections/results-ohio-us-house-6-special.html is going to be a squeaker. it went republican 67 to 32 in 2022 and 74 to 26 in 2020.

Meanwhile, it looks like state Sen. Michael Rulli (R) is on track for a significant underperformance in tonight's #OH06 special election (a Trump +29 seat), though he's still strongly favored to win the seat.

— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) June 12, 2024

Noble Co. is now fully reporting, and Rulli (R) only wins it by 28 pts over Kripchak (D). This is a county Trump won by 63 pts in 2020. As a whole, #OH06 is Trump +29.

I'm starting to think #OH06 (a special neither party paid attention to) is going to end up quite close.

— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) June 12, 2024

Monroe Co. (Trump 76%-22% in '20) now fully reported. Rulli (R) wins it just 60%-40%. Rulli has to hope for a better Election Day vote surge elsewhere. #OH06

— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) June 12, 2024

oh well. huge swing though.

I've seen enough: Michael Rulli (R) wins the #OH06 special election, defeating Michael Kripchak (D). But it'll be a much closer margin than either party expected.

— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) June 12, 2024

Hopefully it’s a sign of things to come (in a good way).

IIUC it's consistent with the last four years of special elections, but the fact that it's *still* happening with a national campaign underway seems noteworthy.

Brill still out here Contenting

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/steven-brill-death-of-truth

Good morning!

https://bsky.app/profile/taniel.bsky.social/post/3kuqasirbpl2s

Brill’s NOT Content

PS the nineties eh? I had a subscription to that and George

Using AI to simulate polling results. This should work out great.

lol, AFAICT the authors of that article seem to mostly work in the data-science, language-processing, and AI fields. if any of them know anything whatsoever about politics, polling, or even "the expressed opinions of individuals and groups across the web," they're not going out of their way to make that clear. they might as well be writing in an lawn-care magazine about how AI will probably be able to change the way you mow your lawn.

plus there's a rather long history of trying to model and simulate voters

can AI be used to simulate electoral results that factor in Republican cheating?

Using AI to simulate polling results. This should work out great.

as others have pointed out, talking to imaginary voters he has invented is literally how the leader of the senate understands the policy preferences of Americans, so it's not clear this would be any worse.

PS the nineties eh? I had a subscription to that and George

― Gigi Allen (Boring, Maryland), Wednesday, June 12, 2024 9:38 AM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Same. What a time it was

God I haven't thought of George in.. decades? That was JFK Jr. or something?

Yeah, a real Clinton-era artifact. (I had a subscription too, at least for the first year. I don't remember how long it lasted.)

They're back!

https://georgemagazine.com/

and they're based in Hot Springs, Arkansas... where the DC elites go to hobnob

They have a kids' version as well

https://georgemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/2024-GEORGE-JR-ISSUE-11-COVER_V1_01-1.png

The Arkansas base + Religious content + Mike Huckabee on the cover make me think this is some kind of Christian nationalist hermit crab situation

I am not clicking that link you guys

Everything is eventually reanimated as venture capitalist right wing or liberatarian BS it seems

--Andy Warhol

They have a giant Q on one cover... wasn't JFK Jr. somehow cast into that cosplay? Finally it's all coming full circle

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/06/13/john-fetterman-car-crash-driving-speeding-tickets/

john-fetterman-life-crash

Wait, Fetterman is allowed to drive?

just a little stroke, let's be cool

he drives...innovation

Wait... are you telling me that a cranky ass middle aged white dude from Pennsylvania drives like an asshole? I never.

Can't drive. 55 (in August)

Pretty annoyed with the people in my feeds acting all shocked about IVF becoming the new target for the Christofascists. We knew they weren't gonna just sit back contentedly after reversing Roe!

I assume this also is quite shocking to the same group: https://www.vox.com/today-explained-newsletter/354635/divorce-no-fault-states-marriage-republicans

With 50% of all marriages ending in divorce, I really doubt that is going to be a winning issue for them. Not that they won't try.

Life comes at you fast, or whatever

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/06/14/trump-gop-future-moment-south-carolina-00162767

The Night Drove New Dixie Down

xp fwiw the 50% divorce rate isn't close to accurate anymore (it's now around 25% afaict), though that's partially due to the marriage rate also declining

(speaking of the US only)

Quality not quantity I always say

50% divorce rate is the discount rate if you do a twofer and bring a coupon

Wait, Fetterman is allowed to drive?

they don't take your license away because you had a stroke at some point

hope it ends well for him

people whose ability to drive is impaired often don't lose their licenses unless someone is aware of the issue (i.e. a doctor) and reports it to the DMV.

eh that politico i cannot...someone got paid to assemble that tho, and hard to resist “the American people...the more news they receive, the less savvy they become” or “We’re no longer going to be the stupid people, folks,” he’d said. “We’re going to be smart, and we’re going to win" cuz like, president fredo will lead us. and then he did

xp

also xp i had a really severe tbi with bleeds and some dai. trauma is v different to stroke obv, but as far as brain injury and driving, CO's licensing sys seemed more concerned with my seizure history/risk. i been seizure free, which is lucky, really. hmm i like to imagine my brain is all kinds of better than fetterman's but that's my opinion.

Hunt3r >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Fetterman

aw ty!

Hard agree with Neando

Thirded

i saw something on a thread somewhere about something called sympathy fishing, and you can sees i been working on them skills

Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Pa., introduced a bill in April to rename Washington-Dulles International Airport to the Donald J. Trump International Airport.

A few days later, a group of Democrats responded with legislation to change the name of the federal prison in Miami to the Donald J. Trump Federal Correctional Institution.

Have we crossed the threshold yet of some representative or another introducing a bill to rename the country Trumpland?

The Democratic response is cute, but whenever I see stuff like that I wonder what they could be spending their time on instead.

otm

oh, they have some ideas

Republicans are obsessed with attacking gay people and banning Drag Shows, but won’t ban Marjorie Taylor Greene showing porn in committee hearings. Drag is not a crime – it’s art. pic.twitter.com/DI4QJYvpVO

— Congressman Robert Garcia (@RepRobertGarcia) June 13, 2024

convicted felon donald j. trump

lol debate prep:

The Trump team used its time Thursday talking about how to push back on those attacks and to respond to questions about Jan. 6, including if Mr. Trump were asked about pardoning the rioters who entered the building, one of the people briefed on the meeting said.

One idea discussed was suggesting that Mr. Biden presents his own threat, which Mr. Trump has said publicly since last year. But specifics of that discussion included focusing on the crisis at the border, the prosecutions against Mr. Trump — who was criminally convicted in Manhattan last month — and government censorship of free speech.

lol

“Joe Biden is allowing garden gnomes to flourish in the Midwest. Vote Trump, and no more gnomes. MAGA!”

I will laugh if Trump mentions the Twitter Files

I’m counting on the debate being full of deep Dark Web conspiracy bullshit from him, and Biden’s expression of bewilderment becoming a plus

Trump can't help himself. He will be talking about election workers flown in from Venezuela with balloons full of votes in their rectums

One thing I don’t understand is the right’s obsession with Venezuelan immigrants, contrasted with their embrace of Cuban immigrants. I would think the Republicans would make hay about how these people are fleeing the evil left-wing Venezuelan regime and that’s why Socialism doesn’t work, etc. I suspect the answer is “racism” though.

if i'm biden at the debate a few weeks hence: are you more pounds overweight than you have felony convictions, you billionaire you?

“Careful there, Donald - you don’t wanna violate your parole”

(I’m sure he’s not on parole per se, Biden should still say it)

i 100% don't understand why biden would debate trump. i wouldn't want to be in the same room with him if i were Biden. he should just say: "I don't debate traitors to the country. Trump is a dark sticky stain on our nation that will takes years of infrastructure spending to clean up." case closed! god bless ameeircka!

you make him real if you debate him. he's legit again. fuck that.

Maybe Biden has a really good zing he's dying to use

Biden should debate Trump simply to allow the world to see how unhinged the former guy has become, in prime time, to be reminded of why he should never be running anything ever again

Obviously all the standard things should be said - yes to democracy, I’m going to rescue your right to abortion, etc etc - but mostly Biden is there to play the straight man and break the fourth wall a couple times

"I can't believe I'm losing to this guy."

they need to do ads of just snippets of trump talking during rallies. that oughta do it. if you want to show people how nuts he is. nobody watches them anymore. people have no idea.

i 100% don't understand why biden would debate trump. i wouldn't want to be in the same room with him if i were Biden.

Normally, I'd be with you on this (how do you argue with someone that batshit), but in my world as a political hack for municipal progressive Dems, the running convo is that there's still a decent-sized chunk of voters who are convinced that neither Biden nor Trump will actually be on the ballot, so Biden pushing for an early debate serves as a way to counter that narrative

I think the conventional wisdom is Biden wants this debate because “he is losing”.

convicted felon donald j. trump is desperate to debate before his sentencing trial

Biden needs to harness the energy of his social media team for these last few months

the democrats need to make sure shameless republican state legislatures don't throw the election to convicted felon donald j. trump

feel like it's Trump who should be trying to avoid it - Biden has a reputation as being old and senile so when he sounds halfway decent it actually impresses people, meanwhile I don't think it's really sunk in yet just how much Trump has declined since 2016, when he's off prompter he's not only nonsensical he's also really unpleasant

News flash: Cubans hate Cuban immigrations.

cubans hate convicted felons like donald j. trump

“You need people like me so you can point your fuckin' fingers and say, ‘That's the bad guy’.”

sermon on the mounting GDP. blessed be the silver spoons, for they shall stab the camel with the eye of the needle, amen

caek otm. if Biden were comfortably leading in the polls, then it would be a different story. the debate is an opportunity for Biden to counter the pro-Trump/anti-Biden narratives setting in among the electorate and exceed people's expectations (as he did with the SOTU).

I mean look at this shit, the media wants him back BAD

Donald Trump made a triumphant return to Capitol Hill on Thursday, his first with lawmakers since the Jan.6, 2021 attacks, embraced by energized House and Senate Republicans who find themselves reinvigorated by his bid to retake the White House. pic.twitter.com/UqSA7hnz1J

— The Associated Press (@AP) June 13, 2024

can he have a comfortable return to the dust from whence he came

Biden needs to harness the energy of his social media team for these last few months

― Marten Broadcloak, mild-mannered GOP congressman (Raymond Cummings),

Can’t tell if this is sarcastic or not

I'm kind of convinced that the reason Biden won in 2020 was because all the narratives about him being old and doddering were vanquished by his debate performances, not because they were particularly brilliant but because he was simply normal and able to engage like an actual human being. If he can do the same this time around, I think the result will be the same. Obviously he's older but I really don't see him as someone who has lost a step in any significant way compared to 2020.

Not that Trump being the worst human being on Earth and the whole covid thing didn't play a part. Should also be mentioned that more people are aware now that Trump is perhaps significantly worse than we thought he was in 2020.

"Will you shut up, man?" secured him several million votes.

and a bra flung on stage

that was my mask, sorry

I’m not being sarcastic at all! He needs to be kind of a dick. (Not happy about the coarsening of our politics, but for whatever reason, swing voters need you to be somewhat jerky to catch and hold their attention, or so it seems.)

I mean look at this shit, the media wants him back BAD

I feel like this is something everyone knows, but still somehow doesn't get emphasized enough. Nearly the entire media landscape is absolutely salivating at the prospect of Trump back in the White House. They want it so bad. It's why you see approximately 345 "Biden old and doddering" articles a week, while Trump being effectively the same age and clearly 100x the doddering fool sees almost nothing.

Even by his standards, Trump looks awful in that AP thumbnail.

Yeah, if flop sweat cost Nixon the '60 election, Saddlebags 2Coups is in for it during the hot summer debates.

Swampass cost Trump the election

The absence of a live audience at the first debate is gonna be deadly for Trump. When there's dead silence after every asshole thing he says, he's gonna melt like a caramel apple dropped on asphalt.

https://www.tiktok.com/@dreamforamerica/video/7376364226295942446

Here, have some garbage. "Donald Trump has never come close to winning the popular vote, but he totally could do it this time, you guys!"

why bother with conspiracy theories when you can just read the actual news?

"The U.S. military launched a clandestine program amid the COVID crisis to discredit China’s Sinovac inoculation – payback for Beijing’s efforts to blame Washington for the pandemic. One target: the Filipino public. Health experts say the gambit was indefensible and put innocent lives at risk."

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-covid-propaganda/

Well, our brief golden age of fact-checking was nice while it lasted. Turns out truth hurts.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/06/14/stanford-internet-observatory-disinformation-research-lawsuits-politics/

The collapse of the Observatory is the latest and largest in a series of setbacks for the community of researchers who try to detect propaganda and explain how false narratives are manufactured, gather momentum and become accepted by various groups. It follows Harvard’s dismissal of misinformation expert Joan Donovan, who in a December whistleblower complaint alleged that the university’s close and lucrative ties with Facebook parent Meta led the university to clamp down on her work, which was highly critical of the social media giant’s practices.

I’m not being sarcastic at all! He needs to be kind of a dick. (Not happy about the coarsening of our politics, but for whatever reason, swing voters need you to be somewhat jerky to catch and hold their attention, or so it seems.)

― Marten Broadcloak, mild-mannered GOP congressman (Raymond Cummings), Friday, June 14, 2024

I 100% agree but I read some article about their social media team and it did not build confidence. I believe the final graf said something about hiring an influencer to record a video of themselves dancing to Kendrick on the White House lawn while Biden accomplishments scrolled across the screen

Misusing your influence

Yeah, the co-opting of “Not Like Us” made me really nervous.

Otherwise I’ve been impressed with that team’s strategy. But that was a big misstep.

PokemonGo to the polls lads

Good morning.

So apparently the Trump VP shortlist consists of J.D. Vance, Doug Burgum, Tim Scott, Byron Donalds, Elise Stefanik, Marco Rubio, Tom Cotton and Ben Carson. What a parade of tragic losers and wastes of space, none of whom brings anything to the table in terms of voter appeal. Oh, Trump might win Ohio with Vance on the ticket? He might win North Dakota with Burgum? Come the fuck on.

He might win outer space with Ben Carson

I think as with Pence the primary purpose will be to reassure Republicans who don’t like Trump that there’s still someone “normal” around. Which someone like Kari Lake would not do.

(Also I don’t think it’ll be Carson, Scott or Rubio becz that will be hard for some of his racist base)

Burgum is probably the best choice for that. But Trump may be won over by Vance’s serial killer energy.

Or Donalds for the same reason

He might go for Donalds just bc he loves the name

I think as with Pence the primary purpose will be to reassure Republicans who don’t like Trump that there’s still someone “normal” around. Which someone like Kari Lake would not do.

Once again proving that Republicans have all gone insane. Not a single person on this list codes as normal, except maybe for Burgum, and it's not gonna be him.

Trump would hate to have all his campaign material read "TRUMP/DONALDS". Therefore you can eliminate him from serious contention.

I can imagine trump thinking at the 11th hour that donalds is too “slick” or some sort of slightly antiquated term

It's gonna be Scott, and when the first three dudes admit they slept with Scott in college or last year, the Trump campaign will say SEE WE LOVE THE LGBTQ DAMN

“I love the poorly closeted.”

the inauguration of President Tim Scott in mid-2026 is exactly where this farce needs to go

Scott might be the actual best pick for him. also inoculates him from charges of racism. All he needs is a guy who will certify a third term for him.

Lots of him

Oh, Trump might win Ohio with Vance on the ticket? He might win North Dakota with Burgum? Come the fuck on.

The VP candidate's home state doesn't really make much of a difference now that politics has become so nationalized. GW Bush and Obama both chose running mates from electorally insignificant states; what mattered more was that the running mates were older and more experienced than they were, which provided assurance to voters. Similarly, I agree with tipsy that the best move for Trump would be to pick someone who might give traditional Republican voters who are iffy about Trump permission to vote for him.

Come on, there’s no way Biden would have won CA without Kamala on the ticket

A good ad.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOEMX6_A8MM

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/holtorf-colorado-boebert-district-congress-b2563616.html

“I have,” Holtorf responded. He added he believes women should choose life at every opportunity, but that there should be “exceptions” to restrictions on the practice.

“Is one of the exceptions when Richard Holtorf is the father?” asked Clark.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrL8tyJLeJk

Ah shit, start at 0:36, c+p every time a pro-life crusader is inevitably revealed to have paid for an abortion at some point.

that interview clip is incredible

“We were in this world where people had choices, and I support people making those choices, if they have a right to choose. Even if I don’t like their choices. So it made me think— wouldn’t we all be better off if we couldn’t make any choices? Then nobody has to decide anything— it’s already done!”

can't wait for the well deserved surgeon's warning on ilxor.com

The New Liberals sound like smirking, reactionary dickheads. "Viva the status quo! Things are generally good! [MEME]" is not a super compelling message.

I can't really see these guys making anything "cool again":

He recognized some of their usernames from the old days, when what is now the CNL community convened primarily on the r/neoliberal Reddit page, where the very online gravitated to discuss, troll, and meme the economic debates of the day. (A sidebar on the page summarizes its approach to neoliberalism as “free trade, open borders, taco trucks on every corner” and beckons, “Join the deep state.”) It was there that Johnson and Mortimer met; they were tapped to serve as volunteer moderators. (Johnson’s Reddit username is “MrDannyOcean.” Mortimer’s is “AuthorityRespecter.”)

Hellfire for the lot

I dunno would like to have a taco truck on my corner

read a few paragraphs and is there more to this story than "check out these fucking dweebs"? (which I'm not critiquing, these just aren't the kind of dweebs I like to hate-read about)

neoliberalism won't give you a taco truck on every corner, at best it would give you a Taco Bell

I have a feeling these are Yglesias type guys, with the idea of "Let's bring in as many immigrants as we can to keep Social Security solvent."

Oh yeah; if you read the whole piece, they're definitely in a mutual admiration society with Yglesias — they even gave him an award!

…voters who feel alienated by the Democratic Party’s progressive tilt.

I feel alienated from anyone who could possibly feel this.

Fox News threatening America that Hillary would put a taco truck on every corner was a 2016 highlight. Who’s scared of that? The most reactionary asshole in America fuckin’ loves tacos.

What if they're MS-13 Taco trucks?

13 m'erbs and spices bro

there are 2 taco trucks right next to my apartment. if that is neoliberalism then consider me a turbolib

Tamales Fund Terrorism

...is the name of my favorite food truck.

But her enchiladas!

Guac them up! Guac them up!

Salsa puede

Make American Grate (cheese) Again

So tired of the far left Biden administration

(Sorry no Mexican food pun)

would buy a MASA hat

there are 2 taco trucks right next to my apartment

inside you are 2 taco trucks

one is red, one is green

ChiMAGAchonga

Grab 'em by the pupusa

Opinion|Here's Why That's Bad for Birria

https://the-ezra-klein-show.simplecast.com/episodes/yanna-krupnikov

Biden still funding genocide: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/06/18/world/israel-gaza-war-hamas/israel-f-15-jets-democrats?smid=url-share

Or, allowing arms sales to Israel— largest one in years.

That gross news at the same time this happens:

President Biden on Tuesday announced sweeping new protections for hundreds of thousands of immigrants who have been living in the United States illegally for years but are married to American citizens.

Under the new policy, some 500,000 undocumented spouses will be shielded from deportation and given a pathway to citizenship and the ability to work legally in the United States. It is one of the most expansive presidential actions to protect immigrants in more than a decade.

while at the same time his immigration policies are otherwise to the right of Trump’s.

This new policy would seem to undermine that claim. Trump would've sent them all back.

There was shock on CNN at how former President Donald Trump is faring in polling among Black voters ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

On Monday, the network’s senior political data reporter Harry Enten said he was “speechless” at presumptive GOP presidential nominee Trump’s surge from around 7% support at this point in 2020 to 21% now — compared with President Joe Biden’s plummet from 86% to 70% in the same period.

as frogbs has said Biden will get less of the Black vote but I'm not buying that number, especially among Black women.

I genuinely don't understand what's going on with the polling right now, I mean I get that Biden is unpopular but far-right/MAGA candidates have been getting trounced in actual elections and Trump himself is a much weaker candidate than he was even in 2020, it just doesn't make sense

also worth mentioning that I'm seeing like maybe a quarter of the Trump signs/hats/bumper stickers that I saw at this time in 2020

national polls have gotten marginally better (538 is basically calling the race a virtual tie right now), but there haven't really been any swing state polls run since the conviction, and those are the polls that will eventually tell us much more about the race.

lol at RealClearPolling breaking its own rules and keeping this old outlying Rasmussen poll where Trump has a 5% lead in the list of recent polls so that it gives Trump a larger advantage in its average.

but...suffice it to say, I think Biden has an uphill battle. he has to quit pretending the polls 'aren't accurate', we saw how well that worked for Romney.

I do think Trump scaring people with his insanity in nationally televised appearances might do something to scare RFK voters back to Biden, idk how much though. Biden campaign would do well to remind everybody in ads about things like Charlottesville and the protesters who got beaten for his PR opportunity when he threatened to send in the National Guard during BLM protests

And dude has promised he will send the NG to flood the streets when he's inaugurated!

North Carolina, please beat this moron at the ballot box

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/06/18/mark-robinson-domestic-violence-sexual-assault/

i'd be ok with the beating happening anywhere tbh

Can't say as I get this:

https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/20/politics/cnn-debate-closing-statements-podiums/index.html

Why would podium positioning matter to you more than speaking order?

That story no longer mentions the no-audience thing. I hope they didn't cave on that; it's the absolute strongest weapon against Trump.

Biden’s campaign chose to select the right podium position, which means the Democratic president will be on the right side of television viewers’ screens and his Republican rival will be on viewers’ left.

Thinking this over, I'm guessing that there's 64 years of research behind this, going back to JFK/Nixon, and wondering if it has something to do with the way the English-speaking world reads from left to right. Maybe we naturally end up on Biden for his reaction to everything that's said by Trump. I don't know.

xp CNN, today:

A key departure from the two Biden-Trump debates of 2020, both of which were hosted by universities, is that the June 27 clash will have no studio audience.

whew

the audience will be outside, storming the building

Where will the shark be positioned?

with the tax returns

You get dropped into the shark tank if you get three questions wrong

https://www.foxnews.com/official-polls/fox-news-poll-three-point-shift-biden-trump-matchup-since-may

Woo-Hoo! 2 Points ahead of the convicted criminal!

i don't know what's going on with the world but I think there are just a troubling number of people across every demographic that are fine with totalitarianism.

and the more people are convinced the world is going to 'end' in some manner (war, disease, climate change) the more these people just become selfish and put their own personal survival above all else.

i definitely think that is one of the underlying reasons behind all the freaking out over immigration. a fear of being overrun by climate refugees. i mean there is racism involved and just standard GOP meanness but it is different now. and its definitely not just Trumpers who feel that fear.

at this rate the big issue on the 2036 ballot will be whether to send climate refugees to forced labor camps or just gun them down

You're forgetting that they can also be used as organ banks for the rich.

Where do you the Soylent Green comes from?

I do think Trump scaring people with his insanity in nationally televised appearances might do something to scare RFK voters back to Biden, idk how much though

I thought RFK was pulling more voters from Trump than Biden? If they were to go "back" somewhere is that necessarily back to Biden?

Trump has placed a huge bet on a bonkers GOTV plan

And he appears to have ousted Ronna McDaniel as RNC chair so he could do it

I explain in full at @monthly https://t.co/XFAmTHPnpN

But here’s a 🧵 sum-up…

— Bill Scher (@billscher) June 20, 2024

plus points for trump though: charlie kirk has already trained an army of white christian fascists (evangelical joe rogans) to express their allegiance to matthew 10:34

I might break the habit of a lifetime and actually watch this one

https://bsky.app/profile/jbouie.bsky.social/post/3kvh26f7lzs2n

In all fairness, "Mr. Kurd" is what he calls every brown-skinned male.

Mr. Kurd, that's my name. That name again is Mr. Kurd.

Lest we forget Tim Apple and Marilyn LockHEED (capitalization intended)

Mistuh Kurd - he dead.

Elon Boring

From WaPo

Arizona delegates to the Republican National Convention gathered this month in a Phoenix suburb, showing up to get to know each other and learn about their duties.
Part of the presentation included a secret plan to throw the party’s nomination of Donald Trump for president into chaos.
The instructions did not come from “Never Trumpers” hoping to stop the party from nominating a felon when delegates gather in Milwaukee next month. They instead came from avowed “America First” believers hatching a challenge from the far right — a plot to release the delegates from their pledge to support Trump, according to people present and briefed on the meeting, slides from the presentation and private messages obtained by The Washington Post.
The delegates said the gambit would require support from several other state delegations, and it wasn’t clear whether those allies had been lined up. One idea, discussed as attendees ate finger-foods, was for co-conspirators to signal their allegiance to one another by wearing matching black jackets.
The exact purpose of the maneuver was not clear — and left some delegates puzzled and alarmed. People familiar with the meeting, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations, said that perhaps the intent was to block an undesirable running mate. Most of the dozen GOP officials or activists interviewed by The Post even ventured that the aim may have been to substitute former national security adviser Michael Flynn for Trump if the former president is sentenced to prison time. Among some on the far right, suspicions have intensified that the former president has surrounded himself with too many advisers beholden to the “deep state.”

I don't think Trump is conservative enough imo

Ok!

Conservative Cosplay

Do it do it cause chaos at the convention oh please oh please oh please

The exact purpose of the maneuver was not clear

c'mon there's a strong 'embrace chaos' faction of loonies in the GOP. it loves to imagine conspiracies and throw tantrums

https://www.stereogum.com/2269201/david-byrne-meets-with-ted-cruz/news/

rich considering Byrne's musician union-thwarting attempt on Broadway

(which thankfully failed)

my god what has he done

Is his stupid Imelda Marcos show still running

Nope. Not on Broadway at least

First came the GOP’s underperformance in a special House race in a deep-red swath of Ohio that included a swing county. Then, after Republicans over the weekend nominated a far-right candidate for lieutenant governor in Indiana, a top national GOP lawyer predicted a “serious” threat to the top of the ticket even in the heart of MAGA country.

Now, new polling from Fox News shows an 11-point swing in President Joe Biden’s favorability among independents: They prefer Biden by 9 points, a reversal from May, when they favored Trump by 2 points.

Financially, the conviction was a boon to Trump’s small-dollardonor operation. But electorally, the reality of Trump’s conviction has begun to set in, they said.

“I do think this is probably about the time that we should legitimately see a reaction to the guilty verdict, so it certainly makes sense,” said Jason Roe, a Republican strategist and former executive director of the state Republican Party in Michigan.

Or, as Tom McCabe, the GOP chair of swingy Mahoning County, Ohio, put it: “This election is going to be decided on the margins, and short-term, his conviction is hurting him in the polling.”

It isn’t just Trump’s conviction, of course. Republicans are now seeing reasons for concern across the map, even in the most unusual of places. Trump is animating base voters — and donors — with his grievances about the trial. But his standing with swing voters and independents appears to be slipping. And other problems for Republicans are popping up down-ballot..

There is an odd phenomenon where down ballot swing-state Dem candidate are outpolling Biden by quite a margin. It's almost like there'd be a Dem landslide if Biden wasn't the nominee.

“I do think this is probably about the time that we should legitimately see a reaction to the guilty verdict, so it certainly makes sense,” said Jason Roe, a Republican strategist and former executive director of the state Republican Party in Michigan.

Please tell me his opposite number is called Dan Wade or something like that - the adversarial "buddy" sitcom writes itself.

Keep digging, Donnie

It's almost like there'd be a Dem landslide if Biden wasn't the nominee.

Not a landslide but ... well, I won't repeat all the reasons Biden obviously shouldn't have run again. Too late to do anything but cross fingers.

If you can, and you’re comfortable doing so, please let everyone you know of voting age know that Project 2025 exists.

I think awareness of Project 2025 is good for lots of reasons, but I'm afraid that electorally it's a tad abstract to have much of an impact on any persuadable undecideds. As the recent polling maybe suggests, "Trump's a loser and a crook" I think has a lot more resonance than "Trump's a fascist who will enact a radical agenda."

You’re probably right.

I don’t know. These years have me doubting the value of messaging of any kind, the ability to reach and convince enough people. (Not giving up, just expressing frustration.)

At a meeting with our Dem Senate candidate two years ago I told her that her appeals to Preserving Democracy don't play here. It's too abstract, and I get why it is. If you can still go to Publix and buy your expensive eggs and vacation once a year, democracy looks fine.

(I urged her to hit Rick Scott hard on abortion and his opposition to any form of immigration)

*two weeks ago lol. It feels like two years ago.

Yeah, I think messaging has a lot of influence on allies — you can see the talking points get filtered through the media and straight into yr social media feed (depending on the political skew of yr feed). Good messaging can even have influence on non-allies. I just think that kind of messaging works best when it's blunt, basic, and personal. "This guy sucks! Remember how much this guy sucks?"

share a political GIF meme and a political article on social media. the latter gets read by a handful of people, but most only look at the headline and don't dig further. the former, everybody is repeating it and parroting it hours later. regardless of how factual any of it is.

more than ever people want the thing they are supposed to believe in bite-sized, easy to recite form, and don't want to have to think too long about it. and they seek this message from the people they have deemed the credible messengers on their "team".

(and if/when these messengers go rogue or insane, they often stick w/ them)

True. A family photo (or couple photo) tends to garner the most attention on FB (not as much as a few years back, since people have peaced out) but yeah: a smart, sharp meme is probably how to go for many.

TS: A contemporary Drake review in P4K vs “Not Like Us”

A good interview with David Roberts in Aaron Rupar's newsletter, Public Notice.

David Roberts
There’s so much momentum and money behind the two symmetrical sides model. Institutions have been built around it. That’s how the thing runs, so it’s inflexible. It’s incapable of a break of its own. It’s incapable of breaking its own behavior, breaking its own habits.

People who are voting for Trump are not in these circles. They're not reading elite media and they’re not part of this apparatus at all, so no one’s talking to them except for, like, nutball AM radio guys. The New York Times doesn’t reach them, much less swing them, but that apparatus has to do something. Pundits gotta pundit, so they just crank out these conventional arguments over and over again.

The whole thing hits me as weird. I think one of the best ways to gain insight on the dynamics at work here, around Trump, is from psychology — particularly the psychology of abuse and abusers. It’s sort of a cliché to say at this point, but I really think it’s true that with families — let’s say a big family with an abusive father — one of the things that happens is that there’s a very surreal kind of quasi-normality trying to form itself around what is clearly not normal.

Within that family it can be difficult to see just how strange it is. You have to come in from the outside to see it. There are strange conventions through which they tamp down their obvious horror and through which they process things that are traumatic and turn them into something normal. People who are in abusive relationships build justifications for them. They’ll tell stories around them to make sense of them.

It can seem very surreal from the outside, and I come back to that again and again with all of America. We’re in a situation where we have this lying, abusive, obviously nutbag figure, and we can’t acknowledge to ourselves what’s happening. The political commentariat is trying so hard to process this into a normal thing that they’re familiar with. It’s just surreal to me.

Thor Benson
It seems the right has convinced a lot of journalists that they’re part of the “liberal media,” so they want to prove they aren’t, and they try too hard to do it. They don’t want to be seen as out of touch elites who don't get the common man, so they take every Trump supporter at the diner as a voice of the people.

David Roberts
Yeah, and these dynamics are so familiar for every authoritarian that comes along. We just lived through a whole century of this shit. In the post-war period, there were all these books about the dynamics of authoritarianism, and we’re playing out that script. What you can’t openly acknowledge is that when these authoritarians come along, what they do is rally and unify the absolute worst people in a country. That’s what Trump is doing.

These are awful people who are mean, dumb, and they like imposing cruelty on out groups and blaming them for all their problems. You can describe this in clinical psychological language, you can process it into a political “position” or “issue,” but really it’s just shitty. It’s a shitty way to be. These are shitty people. You cannot say that out loud, because we’ve been browbeaten for decades about how you disrespect them when you don’t understand their “folk ways.” The amount of self-hatred and self-loathing among the liberal elite is just stunning to witness. They love self-flagellation. It’s kind of gross.

Of course, the liberal media gets so easily baited into self flagellating that they’re out of touch or you know they’re really elitist who need to get out in the real world meanwhile right wing media never when they lose, do any sort of soul-searching

Random question, does anyone know much about the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)? Never knew it was so bitterly partisan but I guess it makes sense

I don’t, but it stands to reason that the GOP being run by the petroleum industries, they want that to be as unfettered as possible. Where it really gets weird is when the GOP wants the NOAA dismantled, because obviously there’s no connection between their love of oil and hurricanes. /s

xpost unperson

i really like david roberts, and he's especially good on climate and energy. and in general (perhaps unsurprisingly) i very much sympathize with his exasperation with the authoritarian nightmare scenario repeating yet again.

i think, unintentionally, he sometimes demonstrates the impossibility of reaching people who seem completely lost and allergic to seeing the enormous problem that is right in front of them, 24 hours a day:

https://i.imgur.com/UmWrjr1.png

yes! i feel that way too! but as roberts says in the interview:

Someone once said, “Fascism is a counterrevolution against a revolution that never happened.” What fascists do is try to convince this reactionary base that they’re in danger, that they’re under dire threat from the liberals and the queers and the professors. These people are coming and stealing their kids and turning them against them and stepping all over traditional values.

It’s always the same message. You could point to any number of historical analogues. You have to hype people up about an impending threat and get them in such a frenzy that they are willing to engage in preemptive violence. “This threat is so imminent that we have to act first,” basically. That’s how all fascist leaders are trying to work up their followers.

...It’s the Flight 93 election. I think that was first written about in 2016, and it captures this mentality. Basically, if you’re in a plane and terrorists have hijacked it, and they’re about to crash into a building and kill a bunch of people, in that situation, anything you do to prevent the worst case scenario is justified. “We are in such danger that nothing is off limits. We are in such danger that we have to put aside any scruples, any values, any restraints.” That’s all right-wing media is — a permission structure. People listen to it to indulge their worst qualities and be cruel and mean, and it gives them permission to do that.

to the great masses of people who don't pay attention to any of this shit, david roberts appears to be the same as the right-wing fascist - they're both trying to warn that something horrible is happening and that they're acting to "save the world". the fascists' worldview is built on lies and paranoia, but in the eyes of a person who doesn't follow things, they're equal

Hence the persistence of the Reasonable Middle myth where Both Sides are full of extremists. I face it often enough in the world to know it exists.

As I posted yesterday, screaming about Democracy in Darkness rarely works anymore. Abstractions are meaningless. The cutting of trans care for children, watching young girls bleed in operating rooms because they had to bring a child to term, the expansion of Obamacare -- these things are real.

yeah, the main message should be a) they already came after abortion and won, b) now they're going after IVF and birth control, c) next up will be Social Security c) Trump is a scumbag liar and you can't believe anything he says, and d) he's also a loose cannon and will probably get us into a nuclear war.

Sadly some minimize those items due to Fox News not covering them and instead providing disinformation regarding immigration and inflation

yeah, the main message should be a) they already came after abortion and won, b) now they're going after IVF and birth control, c) next up will be Social Security c) Trump is a scumbag liar and you can't believe anything he says, and d) he's also a loose cannon and will probably get us into a nuclear war.

― A So-Called Pulitzer price winner (President Keyes), Tu

I'd rewrite these points to make them positive reasons to vote for Biden instead of negative ones to vote against Trump, but I know this ain't popular here. In my environs even Dems look shocked when you praise the president instead of warn against Trump.

It is a little embarrassing in a way that Biden has been better than any dem president in my lifetime, cause it’s such a low bar. He’s the world’s tallest midget.

Most the conversation I’ve heard about it still revolves around disbelief that these are our two choices, I mean a lot of people really do believe that Biden is senile and can’t string two sentences together. but I will say that Trumps felony charges and tendency to say absolutely psychotic shit does seem to actually have an effect, and it does look like not-particularly-engaged folks are afraid of him in a way they weren’t in 2016 or 2020. I’m still seeing very few lawn signs or MAGA hats, in fact the general atmosphere does feel a lot like the immediate post-Access Hollywood period. Who knows if it’ll last though

I also see fewer lawn signs for Trump, but when I do see them, the house has about ten of them.

They think their votes count more

I'd rewrite these points to make them positive reasons to vote for Biden instead of negative ones to vote against Trump, but I know this ain't popular here. In my environs even Dems look shocked when you praise the president instead of warn against Trump.

Agreed with this. People are more motivated to vote when they're voting *for* something they can get behind, not just voting against someone. Voters do need to be reminded of why Trump is terrible, but if that's the entire message, it runs the risk of being dismissed as partisan mudslinging / Trump Derangement Syndrome, or countered with whataboutism.

And while making people enthusiastic about Biden may seem like a tall order, especially to those of us who aren't especially excited about him ourselves, there are a lot of voters who genuinely don't know a single thing that he's done or wants to do and think he's just been asleep for last three years. So the bar is low.

I wonder if Biden would be any more popular if Build Back Better had passed. Surely the GOP would blame it for inflation, but at least would know Biden had done something big.

the inflation reduction act of 2022 was kinda that, wasnt it?

It was like 20 times smaller

“ Most the conversation I’ve heard about it still revolves around disbelief that these are our two choices”

People will still be saying this in October lol

They can’t get past that and grapple with the reality we’re living in

I had this idea for a McSweeney’s article I won’t write, in the form of a news story, where in 2024 Trump does absolutely monstrous stuff and Biden welcomes Jesus Christ to the Rose Garden etc and quoted political pundits are baffled that these events fail to move the polls beyond a point or three

(Before reverting to the exact same previous poll numbers a day or two later)

It was 3.5x bigger than the IRA

It was like 20 times smaller

incorrect: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Build_Back_Better_Plan

Sorry the IRA was 7x smaller than BBB as proposed.. The American rescue act thing that passed instead of BBB was 3.5x smaller. So combined to compare like with like they were just under half the BBB. He has spent a lot of money.

Also the CHIPS act. Not naive enough to think swing voters are considering these accomplishments in the merits If he wins then IRA and CHIPS are going to be looked back on as a huge deal.

also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrastructure_Investment_and_Jobs_Act