US Politics, June 2020 — You have to dominate.

Sigh

Good morning!

Fuck Jenny Durkan and every other cop mayor like her. Vote em out. Thank you.

sounds like Biden veep list would go down to zero by that standard

if Jenny Durkan wants to be vice president she's welcome to, don't let the door hit her etc

The president is very angry that the governors have allowed citizens to express themselves in public (a thread):

JUST IN: President Trump unloads on the nation's governors on a call, calls on them to step up enforcement: "You have to dominate, if you don’t dominate you’re wasting your time. They’re going to run over you, you’re going to look like a bunch of jerks. You have to dominate."

— Ed O'Keefe (@edokeefe) June 1, 2020

damn guys if you had just waited an hour we could have titled this month's thread "You Have to Dominate"

...or "Activate Him Very Strongly"

Lol i actually requested to rename the thread to "You have to Dominate" in the police brutality thread. I'm game for the change.

Susan Rice and Rachel Maddow on same insane page

Susan Rice on unrest and violence at the George Floyd protests: "This is right out of the Russian playbook as well." pic.twitter.com/WlKwPcq98J

— Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) May 31, 2020

Done. The name won't be changed in bookmarks iirc but it will in SNA and BNA. xp

Lol i actually requested to rename the thread to "You have to Dominate" in the police brutality thread. I'm game for the change.

― I am a free. I am not man. A number. (Neanderthal), Monday, June 1, 2020 12:28 PM (four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

be the change you want to see in the world! almost gives me hope.

Have we gotten any response from the governors about being made to look like a bunch of jerks?

not much longer until this recording leaks

via hoos

The US military is now monitoring protests in seven states: Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Colorado, Arizona, Tennessee, Kentucky

Based on docs obtained from the Department of Defense by @kenklippenstein https://t.co/je0DYeTkNF

— Azadeh Shahshahani (@ashahshahani) June 1, 2020

hat tip to fact checking cuz on this excellent NPR codeshift piece about the complex history of the word Boogaloo (with Joe Bataan quote even):
https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2020/05/31/864402190/who-owns-boogaloo

and this if you're unfamiliar with the current usage:
https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2020/05/27/the-boogaloo-movement-is-not-what-you-think/

"This is right out of the Russian playbook as well."

To be clear what Rice is saying here is NOT that the Floyd protests are directly inspired by or influenced by Russian intelligence agents, but that extreme polarization leading to chaotic violence within any NATO country is a primary goal of Russia's covert policy to destabilize their opponents, and they have been working in the background to heighten polarization everywhere in the west for a very long time. The word agitprop originated in Russia.

In the same way that the USA and other NATO countries cynically promoted a bloody stalemate in the Iran-Iraq War, so as to weaken both nations, the Russians are happy to help to radicalize every element of society in the US and Europe as much as possible, especially to get all of them fighting in the street with lethal weaponry. The more casualties, the more chaos, the better they like it. Once it has its own head of steam, they don't even need to be actively involved any more.

otm

yes

I think you are being excessively generous re Rice

I don't know about Rice personally, but the aim is to spread division. Bots and trolls are very active on social media working to spread disinformation.

https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/05/20/859814085/researchers-nearly-half-of-accounts-tweeting-about-coronavirus-are-likely-bots

ulysses, I really appreciate that NPR piece, have to admit the other blog post was a bit dense for my level of interest in alt-right terminology. This James Brown clip tho:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8Heyz27IX8

It looks like the kids are white, which I would have thought at the time would be taboo on US television.

my understanding is that JB was (rightly) as big and ubiquitous a crossover star as anyone could've been at the time

excessively generous re Rice

Rice was a UN ambassador and a National Security advisor, so her whole mindset is focused on international politics and external threats. That is her immediate concern in the rarified world she lives in, not justice for unarmed black men on the streets. She should know better, but we are formed by our environment.

it would be a little easier to regard Rice and MSNBC dorks breathlessly screaming “Russia” with anything other than contempt if they’d acknowledge our own destabilizing programs abroad

If you can still stand to hear the fucker’s voice (I can’t), PBS put the audio of the call with the governors on YouTube.

You have to sit up and notice when the Russians go courting the NRA and the NRA jumps straight into bed with them. What common interest, one may wonder, would bind these two together? Stuffing America with guns! Nothing sinister there.

our NatSec community certainly wouldn’t know anything about flooding certain regions with guns

I know Trump's awfulness is normalized as fuck but still it's fucking insane that we have nationwide protests turning into riots as the cops brutalize people on the street and the goddamn President of the United States is hiding in his bunker calling on the cops to crack more skulls

our NatSec community certainly wouldn’t know anything about flooding certain regions with guns

pretty sure this isn't news to anyone on this messageboard

our NatSec community certainly wouldn’t know anything about flooding certain regions with guns

idg your position. of course we do this shit. but that doesn't alter the extreme undesirability of having it done to us. And Russia is not doing it to us as a karmic redress of our injustices to other nations, but purely and simply to enhance their own power, as they are doing in Ukraine. this is not a situation where our actions and the Russians neutralize each other. it's a situation where the Russians have been actively fucking up the place where you and I live and that is, ipso facto, a very bad thing for us. if you want proof of that, turn on the television.

Here is transcript of a testy exchange between the president and @GovPritzker of Illinois, per person on call. pic.twitter.com/fNYW8BXkMs

— Katie Rogers (@katierogers) June 1, 2020

Appealing to Trump's concern for the well-being of others is a waste of perfectly good breath.

But that's okay.

sorry but it sounds like buck passing when comfortable libs whine about Russia every time something bad happens here... ESPECIALLY when the things they’re whining about are indistinguishable from what we do in other parts of the world, with the blessing/ direct input of the very people doing the whining, eg Susan Rice.

i still hate having a billionaire governor, but nice one there JB. sure, it may not compare with the devastating zingers we inflict on trump during the imaginary arguments with him that many of us have on an ongoing basis. but it's all too rare to see people frankly criticize him at length to his face (via telephone)

George Floyd’s murder and the fallout is a direct result of the unholy intersection of racism, capitalism, and a militarized police force. Not “Russia”.

Trump: I know you are, but what am I
for the 1000th time

you're the rhetoric

the Pritzker/trump exchange is at 51:40

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xhkouev0cp8

Right. Russia is a minor player compared to the history of US society. They do not have control over our past or all the home grown racism and greed that is working itself out in the streets right now. Like the Shiite-Sunni animosity that US policy takes full advantage of, US racism and capitalism were not Russian inventions, but they are Russian opportunities. If you can't see how massive, anonymous flooding of FB and Twitter with agitprop that pushes people further into opposing corners has had a detrimental effect, I can't make you see it.

The Sunni-Shiite analogy I already gave is concrete and apt. A different analogy would be how a fir tree seedling supplies all the power of growth to make a trunk, branches, twigs and needles and merely follows the instructions in its DNA, while sun and water and air are all supplied by the natural environment. But, with some intervention, a bit pruning and shaping, it can be encouraged to look like a Christmas tree instead of a normal fir tree.

Russian intervention is a very little piece of the whole story, but it is true they have done some of the pruning and shaping that got us to here. Susan Rice is not wrong, but she's only right in a very minor and restricted way, and not an especially helpful way to view what is going on.

But fuck the Russians and Putin, too. They are mega-trolling us. The fact that Congress rolled over on this part of the Mueller Report and ignored it is beyond disgraceful.

During his daily covid address on Friday, Pritzker explicitly called Trump a racist, sexist, xenophobe, etc. He splits no hairs with that motherfucker.

"My rhetoric's bigger than yours!"

George Floyd’s murder and the fallout is a direct result of the unholy intersection of racism, capitalism, and a militarized police force. Not “Russia”.

It can certainly be both, and likely is imo. First three are indisputable, but Russia seems pretty adept at utilizing misinformation to stir shit. As adept or more than our own homegrown shit stirrers.

wait by law and order does Trump mean responding to congressional subpeonas

the misinformation is coming from inside the country. punditry is much louder than journalism now, rumours get out of control, and we have a president who actively boosts lunatic fringe theories

No argument from me on that one.

The art of the headline: coming up with something that's just so intriguing, I have to click.

White House defends Trump's handling of protests: 'This President has been leading'

did you read the Mueller Report, treesh? the misinformation is coming from lots of places, including inside the country. one of the Russian tactics is to selectively boost the signal, regardless of the source.

again, this isn't laying everything at their feet. but denying their input is also misinformation.

and, yes, Trump knows all about selective signal boosting. that's one reason they worked hard on his behalf. it does most of their job for them now.

didn't we *just* do this

like a week ago

dunno about *we*, but I didn't write anything like this a week ago and don't recall reading anything like that on ilx.

He means (I think) treeship worried about something or other about Russia and Trump, one of us directing him to the Mueller Report, wash, repeat.

maybe he should read it then

xp yes

someone literally asked treeship if he'd "read the Mueller report" last week

not just a vague wash rinse repeat but the exact same dumb question

Also he's OTM. It should be embarrassing to even mention Russia right now. Russia didn't militarize our cops. Russia didn't make the United States racist as fuck. Russia didn't invent American reactionaries.

it's a fair question

I don't think anyone itt is claiming any of those things?

why would treesh want to read that, it's probably very long and kind of annoying

And also no one asking him actually read the entire fucking thing either

Russia didn't militarize our cops. Russia didn't make the United States racist as fuck. Russia didn't invent American reactionaries.

Gee. And to think I wrote exactly this in this thread just about 25 posts ago. Thanks for shaming me by agreeing with me.

treesh did you ever read the mueller report? (the summaries, i mean)

― Karl Malone, Monday, May 18, 2020 12:14 PM (two weeks ago) bookmarkflaglink

iirc km did read it, and yes many of us read a whole lot of it

I read it. I've also read Musil. Prefer Mueller tbh.

xp - you left out the embarrassing to even mention Russia part ie "they invented agitprop! and kompromat! and"

I find the whole zero-sum game w/r/t Russia almost impossibly stupid

if you believe Russia to be a malign actor, it must also be that you are paranoid and hold them responsible for everything in the world

and mIlo it's the same dumb binary that has made you dn necessary

is everybody here really so dumb as to not understand how more than one thing can be true at a time?

your dn

i'm pretty dumb

People are actively bringing up Russia here it's not really like Biden thread whataboutism.

is everybody here really so dumb as to not understand how more than one thing can be true at a time?

― Yanni Xenakis (Hadrian VIII),

Aimless did what you asked for a couple hours ago!

There's a lot of ridiculous macho posturing going on atm, so I'm taking a brief break.

the goddamn President of the United States is hiding in his bunker calling on the cops to crack more skulls

again, the quiet part out loud

cops cracking skulls is the eternal US truth. it backs up everything. Obama and Eric Holder upheld it, as Cornel West said the other night.

they invented agitprop!

nah. they didn't invent, they invented the word, which does say something useful to mention.

alfred I know, that was the proverbial everybody

There's a lot of ridiculous macho posturing going on atm, so I'm taking a brief break.

shit, gotta block some music listicles

by all means block those paragons of ridiculous macho posturing

by gum block the release of those tax returns

There's a lot of ridiculous macho posturing going on atm, so I'm taking a brief break.

you're an essential and much appreciated voice on these threads, Alfred

Thank you.

I stepped away to mix a Boulevardier and get dinner ready. I'm back.

and just in time - fuckface is finally about to say something

Ooh, I bet it's gonna be good

shit is getting testy on Pennsylvania Avenue

Cops trying to clear everyone out. Watching this on TV it’s so clear who’s escalating the violence here

Lotta F bombs on CNN right now

feel like the worm has turned - #bunkerboy is his bush-looking-out-of-a-plane-window-at-new-orleans moment

oh is he talking

I'm watching a Chantal Akerman musical

He declared the riots over. Finally.

The CNN split screen with what’s actually happening on the street is pretty striking

Ooh, he just threatened to call in the military. That'll help. Sounds like he wrote this one himself.

ceausesculastspeech.mov

Don't toy with my emotions like that.

If only.

Don Lemon bugs me at times, but he's 1000% right about how TV staged this all was; get the tear gas going just before he speaks, get the split-screen he wanted. The full Nixon.

lol goddamn commentariat. Did you think the man who said the Central Park Five were guilty would offer sympathy? You're surprised?

at least we can all declare ourselves 1807 insurrectionists now

I have strongly recommended to every governor to deploy the National Guard in sufficient numbers, that we dominate the streets, mayors and governors must establish an overwhelming law enforcement presence until the violence has been quelled. If a city or state refuses to take the actions that are necessary to defend the life and property of their residents, then I will deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them.

'DOMINATE THE STREETS', what a fucking prepubescent Call of Duty wuss.

shoot the fucker now, Corleones

Um, deploying the U.S. military inside the U.S. is still kind of a no-no, last time I checked.

Maybe someone should explain this to the President, who will doubtless realize the error of his ways and immediately revise his plans and apologize.

he would have to federalize the national guard to go over state executives, which he can and has been said to be looking at doing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insurrection_Act

huffy puffy 'christian' coward

medicare for all, social security birth to the earth

Trump’s script said “Once law and order is restored...” but he misread it as “one law and order” and then had to go on a riff about how we have “one beautiful law” for everyone.

— Dan Amira (@DanAmira) June 1, 2020

even when declaring martial law he can't not be a fucking dumbass for two minutes

This is the Insurrection Act he is using? Not martial law?

Xpost dammit

Insurrection Act and martial law not really the same (IA was used in 1992). But completely the wrong move and a scary escalation.

Active troops already deploying to DC.

Did he also threaten to send in the military to states (hmm, I wonder which they would be) that are not up to his standard?

Tonight is going to be terrible.

cops 'taking a knee' sure impresses some TV idiots

So they fired tear gas at peaceful protesters so that he could cross the street for a photo op?

Insurrection Act can't be officially in effect yet as it requires a call to disperse "or else". My guess is his call to the States to use the National Guard as a "last chance" before he invokes it, and he's mobilizing them in anticipation of invoking it.

Technically he can go around the States on this too.but he's using this the opposite of the way it was intended

ACLU, time to shine

"Is that your Bible?"
"It's a Bible."

great photo op. nailed it pic.twitter.com/X7uedAcxHb

— Brendan Karet 🚮 (@bad_takes) June 1, 2020

What's the difference between Martial Law and Insurrection Act?

LOL I walked past the TV when he was doing that one law bit... one law *holds up a finger* ... one beautiful law... I was like WTF is this turd going on about and left the room again.

how fast will the Roberts Court review the Insurrection Act?

#BREAKING: Carmel, Indiana's mayor announced Monday that the city plans to sue Minneapolis for negligence so the Hamilton County city can recover expenses for protecting itself as a result of police actions in Minnesota.

— WISH-TV (@WISH_TV) June 1, 2020

Hearing that the same cops who took the knee were beating people up an hour later or elsewhere almost immediately turned around and ordered protestors tear gassed.
THought there were some decent ones who might just dislike people abusing the role for a moment.
But is this the spin about how the barrel isn't corrupted or something. Or an attempt to portray things as that.

The finger pointing up gag is probably mimicking evangelical Christians, who like to do it as a way of indicating God is involved. Like all those football players who touch their hearts and then point to the sky after scoring touchdowns.

gang i'm starting to get pretty freaked out but i have also been spending a lot of time on twitter so....

well anybody not getting freaked out rn is part of the problem

I’m pretty freaked out but when that happens I just start hoping to spontaneously die

ts: cops vs. yr parents

that's not two sides : /

:( i feel ya

detailed look at what invoking the Insurrection Act (which he hasn't done yet) would entail. why do I see ACLU lawyers having an all-nighter tonight?

https://www.vox.com/2020/6/1/21277339/george-floyd-trump-military-insurrection-act

so it's different from martial law in that martial law means government run by the military, suspension of habeas corpus, etc, whereas via the Insurrection Act, the military's rules of engagement are very limited, comparatively speaking.

wouldn't be surprised if this turns out like every other thing where the threatens to do something, then invents an excuse why he didn't have to ue it ("the Governors really stepped it up!")

Oh, it's 99 percent authoritarian theater, like a lot of things he does. But like the Sec. 230 thing with Twitter, he's very nakedly showing his inclinations. Needless to say a president who got re-elected on that platform would feel emboldened to try all kinds of very bad shit, and god knows 40 percent of the country will apparently go along with just about anything.

and then call the other 60% crazy

lmao this fucking guy. this fucking bible holder

Can’t be assed to thump it

really stupid alpha move right on schedule

where the threatens to do something, then invents an excuse why he didn't have to ue it ("the Governors really stepped it up!")

or just says he did it and the people who get no news but trump news believe it

it's a pretty ingenious way to pad your resume

didn't catch it live, but Don Lemon calling him out on answering "is that your bible" with "it's *a* bible".

Two Corinthians

pardon?

I imagine if Trump owns an actual Christian Bible, it's one of the tacky personalized ones from Salesman (that was probably stolen from someone else--Mike Huckabee perhaps).

Genedis, Exosus,Levinthians, Deuteroshua,

i can actually recite all of the Old Testament due to a cheesy bible rap I learned as a 12 year old

the books or every single verse??

Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Joshua Judges

I'll tell you the truth
About the book of Ruth

Yea
First and Second Samuel
First and Second Kings
First and Second Chronicles
and all those things

Ezra
Nehemiah
Esther
And Job
I wanna go to Heaven
in a righteous robe

THESE ARE THE HOLY BOOKS
TELL ME THE NAME AND I'LL TAKE A SECOND LOOK

i forget the rest

fuck Trump

pfft. yknow the entire books used to be oral tradition? shape up!

Now do it in Hebrew!

i think silby can?!

(goodnight from Canada)

I can’t lol I’m not very learned

usually these thread titles are at least kind of funny but fuck this one is off-putting

i respect your right to do your thing of just neurotically shitposting all the time neanderthal but... could you do it a little less please?

go fuck yourself, bruh, this title was crowdsourced, if you could read the first few posts

I kinda like "positively toward negative" as a thread title

in about five minutes I'm sure you'll be off in another thread faux-apologizing for how "aggressive you're being lately" and then doing the same aggro bullshit again ten minutes later, I'm just fuckin over it, man.

but hey, I actually posted on topic shit in this thread, you just swoop in to do your usual schtick

lads

Pop unloads:

https://sports.yahoo.com/gregg-popovich-unleashes-fiery-statement-on-trump-what-we-have-is-a-fool-in-place-of-a-president-184310589.html

love Pop

it is cool that there's one sports league where you can openly shit on the President

theres no MAGA dudes at a basketball game

or at least rather few. there are all those luxury boxes you know.

eh they always leave in the 3rd

Lol

The Pacers are still located in Indiana IIRC

at some point very soon trump/the hardcores are going to find themselves in a corner where the only options are to back down or straight-up murder a bunch of civilians in plain view of everyone. neither are likely to go over well

We shall then see if his boast about shooting someone in times sq and no one caring will come to pass and frankly, at this point nothing would suprise me.

(mainly because it wont be him DOING the shooting of course)

love Pop

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/500583-trump-visits-historic-dc-church-after-protesters-cleared-with-tear

President Trump walked to visit the historic St. John’s Church near the White House after protesters were forcefully removed from Lafayette Park by law enforcement officers who fired tear gas into the crowd ahead of a citywide curfew.

Rev. Gini Gerbasi, Rector of St. John's, said the clergy was given no warning Trump was coming. She told WUSA she was wearing her clergy collar when she was forced off the property due to the tear gas.

She accused the president of trying to "look Christian" by holding a Bible in front of the church.

"It would be far more Christian if he would behave according to the words in that book rather than carrying it around as a prop," Gerbasi said.

https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/nation-world/episcopal-bishop-outraged-trump-church-visit/507-0d5f64f5-58d9-46c0-9377-72b3bb66c180

Yeah like "Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material", that sort of thing

via twitter:
CNN’s @kaitlancollins says on the air just now that a fence is being constructed on the perimeter of Lafayette Square, the park adjacent to the White House where demonstrators previously attempted to gather. She describes it as a “tall black fence” and “about eight feet tall.”

of course this motherfucker is going to wall himself in

for the love of god, montresor!!!!!!!!!!!!

tear down the wall!
tear down the wall!

Weenie in Chief

halfway through this: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/07/trumps-collaborators/612250/

curious of what others think. there are some cringeworthy moments, but also some great writing and a general scene setting that feels useful. it's very hard to take a step back and see trump for what he is, and applebaum does a good job of doing it

I must remain close to power. Another sort of benefit, harder to measure, has kept many people who object to Trump’s policies or behavior from speaking out: the intoxicating experience of power, and the belief that proximity to a powerful person bestows higher status. This, too, is nothing new. In a 1968 article for The Atlantic, James Thomson, an American East Asia specialist, brilliantly explained how power functioned inside the U.S. bureaucracy in the Vietnam era. When the war in Vietnam was going badly, many people did not resign or speak out in public, because preserving their “effectiveness”—“a mysterious combination of training, style, and connections,” as Thomson defined it—was an all-consuming concern. He called this “the effectiveness trap”:

• The inclination to remain silent or to acquiesce in the presence of the great men—to live to fight another day, to give on this issue so that you can be “effective” on later issues—is overwhelming. Nor is it the tendency of youth alone; some of our most senior officials, men of wealth and fame, whose place in history is secure, have remained silent lest their connection with power be terminated.

In any organization, private or public, the boss will of course sometimes make decisions that his underlings dislike. But when basic principles are constantly violated, and people constantly defer resignation—“I can always fall on my sword next time”—then misguided policies go fatally unchallenged.

...The Republican senators who are willing to express their disgust with Trump off the record but voted in February for him to remain in office all indulge a variation of this sentiment. (Trump enables them to get the judges they want, and those judges will help create the America they want.) So do the evangelical pastors who ought to be disgusted by Trump’s personal behavior but argue, instead, that the current situation has scriptural precedents. Like King David in the Bible, the president is a sinner, a flawed vessel, but he nevertheless offers a path to salvation for a fallen nation.

The three most important members of Trump’s Cabinet—Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and Attorney General William Barr—are all profoundly shaped by Vichyite apocalyptic thinking. All three are clever enough to understand what Trumpism really means, that it has nothing to do with God or faith, that it is self-serving, greedy, and unpatriotic. Nevertheless, a former member of the administration (one of the few who did decide to resign) told me that both Pence and Pompeo “have convinced themselves that they are in a biblical moment.” All of the things they care about—outlawing abortion and same-sex marriage, and (though this is never said out loud) maintaining a white majority in America—are under threat. Time is growing short. They believe that “we are approaching the Rapture, and this is a moment of deep religious significance.” Barr, in a speech at Notre Dame, has also described his belief that “militant secularists” are destroying America, that “irreligion and secular values are being forced on people of faith.” Whatever evil Trump does, whatever he damages or destroys, at least he enables Barr, Pence, and Pompeo to save America from a far worse fate. If you are convinced we are living in the End Times, then anything the president does can be forgiven.

last excerpt, sorry:

In february, many members of the Republican Party leadership, Republican senators, and people inside the administration used various versions of these rationales to justify their opposition to impeachment. All of them had seen the evidence that Trump had stepped over the line in his dealings with the president of Ukraine. All of them knew that he had tried to use American foreign-policy tools, including military funding, to force a foreign leader into investigating a domestic political opponent. Yet Republican senators, led by Mitch McConnell, never took the charges seriously. They mocked the Democratic House leaders who had presented the charges. They decided against hearing evidence. With the single exception of Romney, they voted in favor of ending the investigation. They did not use the opportunity to rid the country of a president whose operative value system—built around corruption, nascent authoritarianism, self-regard, and his family’s business interests—runs counter to everything that most of them claim to believe in.

Just a month later, in March, the consequences of that decision became suddenly clear. After the U.S. and the world were plunged into crisis by a coronavirus that had no cure, the damage done by the president’s self-focused, self-dealing narcissism—his one true “ideology”—was finally visible. He led a federal response to the virus that was historically chaotic. The disappearance of the federal government was not a carefully planned transfer of power to the states, as some tried to claim, or a thoughtful decision to use the talents of private companies. This was the inevitable result of a three-year assault on professionalism, loyalty, competence, and patriotism. Tens of thousands of people have died, and the economy has been ruined.

This utter disaster was avoidable. If the Senate had removed the president by impeachment a month earlier; if the Cabinet had invoked the Twenty-Fifth Amendment as soon as Trump’s unfitness became clear; if the anonymous and off-the-record officials who knew of Trump’s incompetence had jointly warned the public; if they had not, instead, been so concerned about maintaining their proximity to power; if senators had not been scared of their donors; if Pence, Pompeo, and Barr had not believed that God had chosen them to play special roles in this “biblical moment”—if any of these things had gone differently, then thousands of deaths and a historic economic collapse might have been avoided.

Well yeah.

"The Aristocrats!" would also have been an acceptable answer.

Episcopal bishop in DC doing many TV hits today about the Clown's blasphemy last night

.@secPompeo meets with Tiananmen Square survivors at 2:30 pm today, per @StateDept. pic.twitter.com/XlLdyxlfPg

— Matt Lee (@APDiploWriter) June 2, 2020

timing

just wanted to say sorry in retrospect for pushing "You Have to Dominate" for thread title...i made the same mistake of jumping the gun that I'd called out the OP for...if we'd just waited another few hours, we could have had "It's A Bible" instead. everyone can enjoy that.

I'll read KM's Atlantic piece. I think sometimes I find Pence more disgusting than Trump, in the same way that, as a teacher, I'd be more upset with a bright grade 6 student who'd create some needless drama in the class than I would with a kid who had real behaviour issues--who couldn't help himself. I'd better add the usual disclaimer: do no, in any way, take that as justification for anything Trump does, I'm just talking about the two of them solely in relation to each other.

"do not"

"Um, deploying the U.S. military inside the U.S. is still kind of a no-no, last time I checked."

I believe this was done at Standing Rock, not to mention Wounded Knee in the 70's.

My only cavil, clem, with your otherwise spot-on remark: your sixth grade student is the bright one, not Pence.

As representative and governor, Pence's career has been marked by a cruelty under the carapace of the slimiest kind of evangelism.

Also he’s a massive closet case. “Happy Pride month, Mother!”

the Clown

Okay now I am picturing a lushly filmed Netflix drama.

Credit sequence is of a hideous orange hair-weave monstrosity slowly assembling (like the credit sequences of The Crown, Game of Thrones, Westworld, and Vinyl).

Season one: Armie Hammer (heavily CGI'd) plays young Trump, learning the ropes of redlining and shafting contractors from Dad (played, I guess, by Alan Arkin?).

Season two: Jason Segel plays young-adult Trump, with Miley Cyrus as Marla and Milana Vayntrub as Ivana.

Season three: Okay, let's just push the easy button and fuckin go with Alec Baldwin. Melissa Villasenor IS Melania.

Season four (aka "Lion in Winter") is, like, I dunno, Alan Arkin again as an aging, raging, incontinent Trump, yelling at the TV in a bathrobe.

(xposts) Actually thought about adding a second disclaimer pointing out exactly that--that I don't consider Pence the equivalent of a bright sixth grader...He's definitely far more religious than I would like, but basically the comparison for me boils down to he's more or less a bland, generic Republican in relation to Trump, and that he oughta know better. Maybe I'm wrong, but if he were president, I don't think things would be completely off the rails like they are now.

xp to Suzy: As the person who coined the word "gaydar," I guess you'd know.

LOL - the Pence Closet has been DC gossip for as long as 45 has been in office.

I'm well aware. It's kind of hackneyed at this point.

As far as potential symbolic victories go, is there any chance Steve King loses his seat tonight?

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/farce-tragedy-and-photo-op

...What became clear was that the presidential remarks and driving off the crowd were timed to coincide to create a presidential photo op or what is probably best seen as a cartoonish but choreographed reality TV event. The plan was for the President to give his short speech with explosive concussions in the background and tear gas in the air followed by the President walking over to the ground just cleared of protestors to make a symbolic visit to St. John’s Episcopal Church where he would hold ostentatiously hold up a bible. The slight shifts in schedule were to make sure the timing was just right.

Within hours, his campaign released staged photos of the proceedings.

A short time later it emerged that the owners of the Church, the Episcopal Diocese of Washington hadn’t been informed or asked whether their Church would be used as a prop in what amounted to an ersatz white Christian nationalist photo op. But federal officers – police or military isn’t clear – actually forcibly expelled a priest from the Church grounds with tear gas.

It was a set-piece tableau of Trumpism, a visual demonstration of the dominance Trump demands but usually shrinks from personally. You protestors were on this literal ground. I commanded force against you and now I am on the same ground holding a bible aloft in victory.

Thankfully, it doesn’t appear there was any loss of life in this staged incident or I think any major injuries. But like so much of Trumpism it manages to bring together with a unique crudity the mix of rightist nationalism and TV production which is the heart of Trumpism – a loud red hat with gleaming white lettering of state violence. Nothing more captures the man than holding a Christian bible in the air as a sort of dominance talisman after driving priests out of a church where they were tending to the needs of peaceful protestors. Much as he bogarted tax payer money for use as campaign funds in extortion plot against the government of Ukraine here he turned the US military and federal police on peaceful protestors for what was in the final analysis a planned campaign event.

https://i.imgur.com/qEXqqPP.png
https://i.imgur.com/LqfUVrn.png
https://i.imgur.com/aeTDaSH.jpg

I can't quite figure this out, does the US actually have a functioning government right now? That passes laws and stuff? Or is it just a scorched earth retreat?

One half of the government was trying to block Congress from remote voting on bills. Three guesses who!

yeah we're still confirming a dozen hardline right-winger judges every day so some part of it is working

As predicted, he's claiming victory. Pretty sure many citizens don't feel victorious rn, particularly our own MN residents.

He left his rage for NYC

D.C. had no problems last night. Many arrests. Great job done by all. Overwhelming force. Domination. Likewise, Minneapolis was great (thank you President Trump!).

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 2, 2020

Fucking sick

fucking asshole, i hope he dies

Trump’s response here is going to leave lasting damage. His presidency is like 9/11 - the bad energy will reverberate for a long, long time

Getting Travis Bickle vibes from his tweet about NYC 'lowlifes and losers'.

The Governor refuses to accept my offer of a dominating National Guard. NYC was ripped to pieces. Likewise, Fredo’s ratings are down 50%!

A Godfather reference two sentences after making an offer that was refused. WEAK!

https://thehill.com/homenews/news/500642-residents-clash-before-police-arrive-in-philadelphia-neighborhood

Oh look "Antifa" at it again and weirdly acting out Trumpian fantasies

literally, Christafuck

Pelosi asked about Trump’s Bible photo op last night. She goes and grabs her own bible and is now reading from it. pic.twitter.com/F64v4JFBH6

— Heather Caygle (@heatherscope) June 2, 2020

OUR GOD IS A MIGHTY GOD

No one stepped up to convincingly claim it, so I can’t put all the blame on Pelosi, but it sure would have been nice if the political leaders who are busy confronting their own mortal demise due to being very old would have “passed the baton” to younger leadership that is in touch with the country

*cough*Jayapal*cough*

if i remember correctly, the most successful challenger to pelosi's throne was fucking tim ryan

the new litmus test for american political leadership:

without asking an intern to do it for you, can you successfully set up an automatic Out of Office message for your email

remember, decaying leadership: you are allowed to type "how to set up automatic out of office message for my email" into google.com in order to find the answer if you don't know how to do it

Idk politicians should flush the Bible down the toilet tbh

google.com is a search engine. you need to go on the internet and type it into the big spot at the top where you can type

Remember when our biggest enemies were Bobby Jindal

it's pretty obvious by now that Pelosi is good at some aspects of her job, like organizing her caucus, while being fucking terrible at the part where she's the de facto face and voice of the entire party.

nooo---- nonono don't click the picture of the home insurance trick that obama doesn't want you to know about---fuck, it's too late

would have “passed the baton” to younger leadership that is in touch with the country

likely Rahm Emanuel and his Zionist hoodlum clan didn't return their calls though

my best friend lives in Philly and works for WHYY, he sent me Jon Ehren's stuff about Fishtown as it was happening. glad it got some attention.

it's pretty obvious by now that Pelosi is good at some aspects of her job, like organizing her caucus, while being fucking terrible at the part where she's the de facto face and voice of the entire party.

― Evans on Hammond (evol j), Tuesday, June 2, 2020 11:25 AM (fourteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I think "public relations" for members of Congress used to just mean cultivating relationships with the press. In other words, it was never that public: It was about calling up reporters and feeding them stories and talking points. But the current media environment demands a much more direct approach. Younger pols like AOC get this. Many older ones do not, or seem uncomfortable with it.

it's pretty obvious by now that Pelosi is good at some aspects of her job, like organizing her caucus, while being fucking terrible at the part where she's the de facto face and voice of the entire party.

For better or for worse, that's Joe Biden as soon as he's the nominee, and to some extent right now.

xp to jaymc

yeah. to use a tiresome phrase, she has trouble "thinking on her feet" these days. there was a time when statements were prepared and delivered as part of a communications strategy which politicians could somewhat control. now, an effective politician needs to be able to say something powerful (or at the bare minimum make a coherent point) at a moment's notice, in situations that are out of their control

cool

House Dems had an emotional caucus call today with some members crying as they spoke.

They agree that they need a bold response and quickly. But exactly what that is is up for debate.

Dems will talk again Thursday, w/ the call being entirely devoted to this discussion. https://t.co/nvevIM3nmQ

— Heather Caygle (@heatherscope) June 2, 2020

that is cool, actually

I just think - maybe the bold response should get figured out before Thursday? Things are happening pretty fast.

sure. but it the purpose of the meeting is to develop legislation, that's gonna take time to pass anyway (especially considering that if it's decent legislation, mcconnell and trump won't let it pass)

btw, just imagine a republican in 2020 crying about civil rights

it's literally impossible

well there were a fair number of black and liberal Republicans in 1968

I just have so little faith in the Dems right now. Thursday will be another call to decide on a meeting for later next week, while events continue to outpace them.

Exactly what do you want from legislators?

Why legislate now when you can legislator, am I right?

powerful words from pelosi here:

“We would hope that the president of the United States would follow the lead of so many other presidents,” Ms. Pelosi said, “and be a healer in chief and not a fanner of the flame.”

#healerinchief

#notafanneroftheflame

her comm team is good. really, really good

#nailedit

2020: a cross between veep and idiocracy

you must admit the following scene seems a lot more realistic than it did just a few years ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGUNPMPrxvA

kushner is joe

Why legislate now when you can legislator, am I right?

― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, June 2, 2020 6:33 PM (nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I've got legs but
I'm not a legislator

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muhFxXce6nA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muhFxXce6nA

Fun to think about what the republican response to Tea Partiers getting teargassed and Obama calling for greater force would have been.

Hard to say. They do like to be dominated, after all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rczBM8BnQBk

Trying to imagine explaining this turn of events to someone from 1980 and not getting very far

Kpop fans are taking over M*GA and pro-police hashtags and crashing law enforcement snitch apps and it’s beautiful https://t.co/h2HzGj9MEx pic.twitter.com/uUPgHOu76W

— Laura Hudson (@laura_hudson) June 3, 2020

Well I mean the ROK wasn’t really even culturally equipped to have its current entertainment industry in 1980, for one thing

Steve King out, it seems.

I know we aren’t supposed to express our defeatist fears here, but seeing the photo of the troops lined up on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial really hammered home for me that this week is the end of democracy. Trump’s absolutely got the police and military behind him 100%, he will never step down. It’s over.

The military are not behind Trump, they’re beholden to a strict hierarchy, their service contracts, and to the people next to them in line. They’re as scared of this as anyone.

Cops have powerful unions and can quit anytime they want. Don’t pile the military in with them.

yeah, that's a wee bit dramatic. the troops were National Guard, and they weren't standing on the memorial out of allegiance to Trump. they were requested by Defense Secretary Esper from other states, and those that were willing sent theirs there (many Democratic state Governors also refused to send their guard there).

Trump would need the support of the entire fuckin' army to pull off a coup like that, and.....nah. we're nowhere near that.

most of the military guys I know hate his fucking guts

my National Guard ex hates his fucking guts

Fully aware I’m being overdramatic, I’ve just never felt as hopeless as I’ve been this week watching cops just go full bore on protestors. While I believe a fair number of National Guards hate him, it’s that “following orders” mindset that got us where we are today. I’m just freaked the fuck out.

do any of you think that this will mark a sort of seismic shift against trump? it seems like republican leadership would see the writing on the wall here. he's gonna fucking lose, and he is a fucking asshole that pretty much everyone on the planet hates. (of course, i have thought that this moment would come hundreds of times over the last 3 years....)

yeah, that's a wee bit dramatic.

Jon you seem like a great guy but "wee bit dramatic" is a kind description in general

I don't think it's ever going to come from Leadership, unless it's October and they have given up. even today, the most GOP Senators could manage is to claim his tweets "aren't helpful" or "aren't constructive", and when asked about the Insurrection Act, it was the same rhetoric they pulled with the "what if he fires Mueller" line of questioning - "hopefully he doesn't do that!", "I think it's premature to be talking about things he hasn't done yet", "well, I THINK it's premature, but if things change" type bet hedging.

and most of them defended his little photo-op and teargas dispersal.

voters, on the other hand, I think the way he's performed in two crises may siphon even more independents. i do think this is going to hurt him in the race, definitely

xxpost I'm not meaning to have a go at jon, just that the post in general was dramatic. but I also understand just about everybody here is dealing with a cacophony of anxiety so I understand how every development can have us on edge.

I don’t think jon is wrong to feel freaked out. This is all very fucked up, none of us should normalize it in any way. We’re all in a fucked up situation.

xps don't forget the old people who aren't thrilled about being abandoned to the plague

Personally I think he’s fucked himself and with any luck he’s fucked Republican control of the Senate. This many people turning out under the threat of COVID, tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets? Imagine how many will turn out just to vote.

This assumes we have something like “peacetime” come November. Nobody really knows what winter will bring. But people hate him. They hate him so much it’s frankly impressive.

I knew I shouldn’t have posted that, just being cooped up at home for three months and now being surrounded by horrible news, images of shocking violence everywhere I turn and that goddamn orange idiot stirring shit up at every opportunity has my anxiety at an all time level.

I’ll just say it’s hard not that let worst case scenarios spiral out in your head during all of this shit.

“hard not to”

it ain't like that man, you're stressed, we're all stressed, and this is how it manifests itself sometimes. you're good people.

I don't know if this represents a shift against Trump and the GOP, but if this goes long enough and their numbers sink low enough, they will eventually try to find some way to make peace just to save what's left of their political lives. Those are very big ifs though.

Apparently old-people social media (local Facebook groups) are et up with people freaking out about Antifa invasions. One woman I know said her grandparents own a business in a small town (a town not menaced by anything at all) and they spent the night at the business last night because they were afraid it was about to be looted.

Tons of troll posts circulating warning about Antifa forces gathering in, like, mall and Target parking lots.

at the mall, stealing cds from Sam Goody

to be fair, once all the nazis wrap up their urban sojourns they'll probably throw in a little light vandalism once they get home just to dot all their i's

Unless approval among registered R voters somehow dips far below 95% I’m afraid the party is ride or die w/ Trump and nothing—nothing—is going to change their calculus

do any of you think that this will mark a sort of seismic shift against trump?

good news is it really doesn't have to, Trump driving down GOP turnout even 1% is huge given the razor thin margins they're on

yeah, i agree with that. but for the same reason, given how thin the margins were in 2016, if he's doing significantly worse and he's clearly going to lose, it could turn into a landslide

i am knocking on all wood, trust me

Joe Biden still needs to eventually appear on television for at least 10 minutes one sort of would think

As I often say, five months is an eternity in US presidential politics. Assume nothing.

My favorite theory for why the GOP leadership can’t turn on the Trump admin is because there’s kompromat on all of them. Better to retire a little early due to a lost election than have a select group of foreign agents turn CI and provide witness testimony

RIP steve king i guess

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EO-kS1VU8AALGix?format=jpg&name=medium

i would guess that he'll be more influential and financially compensated in the white supremacist speaker scene

ah look! Resistance leader George W. Bush.

Makes you wonder if these "Presidents Obama and Bush should address the nation" people actually have a functioning memory.

it helps their Biden "enthusiasm" too

NPR tapped Klobuchar for remaining Floyd cops' fate interview just now; how on point

Trump Privately Backs Off From Sending Troops Into States Amid Unrest

After threatening states that he would dispatch the military to quell protests, President Donald Trump appeared to be privately backing off, with White House officials saying the response to demonstrations across the country indicated that local governments should be able to restore order themselves.

The shift came as protests in Washington and other cities over police brutality against minorities proceeded Tuesday with relative calm, a striking contrast to the harsh crackdowns outside the White House on Monday night. The president wanted to make the aggressive action in the nation’s capital an example for the rest of the country, a senior White House official said Tuesday.

someone will call him a punk bitch in like 2 hours and detroit will get carpet bombed have no fear

So are those Blackwater troops all over the Lincoln memorial or whut?

some Hitler xxp

So now he's gonna move the RNC with two months to go? "Republicans in Disarray!"

so glad my governor didn't back down on the convention, not that it was a difficult decision. RNC made completely unreasonable demands AND refused to make even a half-assed pledge to follow the most basic health and safety guidelines. the best part of all this was when Gov. Cooper pointed out that fucking NASCAR provided a significantly more thorough, detailed, and responsible plan of action for a race that was being held with much less turnaround time without any actual spectators.

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/melissasegura/police-unions-history-minneapolis-reform-george-floyd

Long article on the difficulties involved in negotiating contracts with police unions. Article takes Minneapolis Council to task, but notes the obstacles they face

So are those Blackwater troops all over the Lincoln memorial or whut?

― Pinche Cumbion Bien Loco (stevie), Wednesday, June 3, 2020 10:10 AM bookmarkflaglink

They were Maryland National Guard

And some cops in military vests

Cos that's not creepy af

countdown to SECDEF Jared Kushner

NEW: Defense Sec. Esper: "I do not support invoking the Insurrection Act."

“The option to use active-duty forces in a law enforcement role should only be used as a matter of last resort and only in the most ... dire of situations. We are not in one of those situations now.” pic.twitter.com/GcMBjs73rI

— NBC News (@NBCNews) June 3, 2020

At this rate he's gonna have no choice but to throw Tiffany into a position somewhere.

she'll end up being the Frodo Trump of this story. muddling, committed, core-competent.

who will lead him to the Undying Lands

The NC/RNC thing was inevitable, like he ever wanted it anywhere but in one of his hotels/Florida/his living room. Like a lot of his bullshit, he no doubt only wanted North Carolina because someone smarter or more educated/organized than him found some tangential campaign benefit to it and snuck it into his brain, but Trump is always about doing the easiest, laziest thing for the biggest return.

are there ANY states that are going to be willing to do this in August?

This morning's White House propaganda email's subject is "The Lying About Donald Trump is Now Completely Out of Control" which, given the circumstances and even by their standards, is risible beyond parody

xp -- I live in one. The mayor of Jackson would say fuck off, but the casinos/convention infrastructure on the coast would probably jump at the chance.

Like a lot of his bullshit, he no doubt only wanted North Carolina because someone smarter or more educated/organized than him found some tangential campaign benefit to it

Was it even his choice? I assumed it was chosen by RNC leadership, not by Trump himself.

He def. pretended like it was his preference.

i believe mar-a-lago might be available to host the RNC convention. no masks or other PPE allowed

Is the DNC still happening or is that unknown as well?

zoom DNC iirc

I found a 2018 article about how the RNC was having trouble finding a city willing to host the convention in normal times. Charlotte was the only one actively lobbying for it.

Someone should print up Zoom DNC shirts a la the Run DMC logo.

Nashville is apparently under consideration now. Yay.

Music City DOA

Lol

https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/03/politics/esper-insurrection-act-protests/index.html

Nashville is apparently under consideration now. Yay.

― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Wednesday, June 3, 2020 11:33 AM (eleven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

oh hell no

Something every movie fan knows: Nashville + politics does not end well.

How has Trump not 'volunteered' Mar-a-Lago? They could set up tents on the fairways.

Didn't he try to have the G6/7/8 there 1000 years ago, and got shot down?

I wonder if he hasn't volunteered Mar-a-Lago because ... management recommended against it, due to health concerns and potential liability?

Mar-a-Lago has bedbugs, and if I were the exterminating company I'd insist on conventioneer stay there while it's under fumigation.

a big tent party indeed

"The Lying About Donald Trump is Now Completely Out of Control"

He said that he didn't want to do it at Doral because the ballroom isn't big enough.

I have zero interest in moving the Republican National Convention to Doral in Miami, as falsely reported by the Fake News @nytimes in order to stir up trouble. Ballroom is not nearly big enough & would like to stay in N.C., whose gov. doesn’t even know if he can let people in? https://t.co/nqBBPv4VXS

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 25, 2020

Well, between the conventioneers and bedbugs, how would they fit in one space?

Lots of terrible, bloodsucking, smelly, shit-leaving insects....and also bedbugs.

polyticks

if he wants to 'dominate' he should demand the target center in mpls

more lols:

EXCLUSIVE: Trump and Kushner pushed the National Enquirer to investigate that bogus Joe Scarborough 'murder' story. The tabloid dug — and found it was total bullshit. https://t.co/siMc6tvUO3

— Noah Shachtman (@NoahShachtman) June 3, 2020

xp

if he were a true leader he would wear a hat and shirt with a large target logo on it

“If there was something there we would’ve bit into it and stayed with it,” this tabloid veteran insisted, requesting anonymity owing to AMI’s notoriously ironclad non-disclosure agreements and reported retaliation against staffers who have publicly spoken out about the company.

“The basic direction we were given by the editors was since you’ve gone left and focused on the dead girl and that hasn’t been fruitful now go right and focus on the affair,” the ex-staffer recalled, referring to Scarborough’s romantic relationship with his co-host Brzezinski, which was the subject of rumors before the pair finally made it public following her divorce. “It was clear there was an agenda driving it but it wasn’t clear to us by who and what the big picture was.”

The Enquirer reporters were unable to meet the tabloid’s notoriously low bar for publication even after consulting with tabloid-friendly experts such as forensic pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht and private investigator Paul Huebl, who once claimed to the supermarket rag that actor Verne Troyer, best known for portraying “Mini Me” in the Austin Powers film series, was murdered after cops ruled his death a suicide.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/03/us/politics/steve-king-iowa-primary.html

we shall fight in the bunkers and the twitters and we shall never give up

McEnany says Trump's visit to St. John's Monday is on par with Churchill visiting war bunkers and W throwing out the first pitch during the World Series after 9/11.

— Eli Stokols (@EliStokols) June 3, 2020

It's definitely up there with H.W. puking on the Japanese prime minister.

Everytime Ford fell down.

It's up there with the time Dubya read a children's book on 9/11

At least he was pretending to read.

i'm a 9/11 truther

to be clear, i mean that i believe GWB really did read that book. he fucking nailed it!

Thing is, it's completely impossible to imagine Trump successfully reading a children's book to a kindergarten class.

Thing is, it's completely impossible to imagine Trump successfully reading a children's book to a kindergarten class.

oh man I'd love to see him try

oh no I wouldn't.

Thing is, it's completely impossible to imagine Trump successfully reading a children's book to a kindergarten class.

He'd shoo away Secret Service as it would prevent him from hearing through his earpiece, which contains the kids book on tape

Love to give 4 year olds PTSD

Then he would bomb the Tower of Terror

Thing is, it's completely impossible to imagine Trump successfully reading a children's book to a kindergarten class.

shouldn't you have a sign that says "fresh fish sold here today"

I know this will be greeted with derision by some of you, but I'm all for it.

http://www.cnn.com/2020/06/03/politics/obama-george-floyd/index.html

I especially hope Trump immediately schedules a press conference or Oval Office address or "Zooming with DJT" forum at the same time, and CNN and MSNBC cover Obama instead (which they obviously would, so he won't).

A data point.

RCP poll leads on this day in history:

2020: Biden +8.0
2016: Clinton +1.5
2012: Obama +1.3
2008: Obama +1.4

I think people generally remember the Obama wins as much easier and more predictable than they were.

— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) June 3, 2020

My only sliver of doubt about Obama's eventual 2008 victory came exactly ten hours after Sarah Palin's RNC debut.

In 2012, most doubts dissipated after the spring. I wasn't much rattled by Obama's first debate performance.

I had no doubt Clinton would win in 2016.

Kerry was +1.6

I disassociated for the latter half of 2003 and all of 2004 so I can't remember what my expectations were that summer.

dissociated*

the 2012 win wasn't a surprise, but it definitely came a bit easier than the conventional wisdom suspected

If only Dems controlled the House, they could investigate deployment of military in Washington, maybe figure out the deal with "federal law enforcement officers" who won't identify themselves, get answers on DEA role in investigating protests. Subpoena Milley, Barr, Esper, etc https://t.co/uHqRGkeAMo

— 'Weird Alex' Pareene (@pareene) June 3, 2020

Yes. The House Committees could issue subpoenas, which Barr would instruct all federal employees to ignore. Then the House could sue for compliance and take it all the way to the Supreme Court! Then Alito, Thomas, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh would vote to back Barr, leaving John Roberts to play the Swing Vote role again. Maybe issuing an opinion by next June. Hotcha!

lots of federal employees have already ignored executive branch instructions not to testify before house committees.

https://www.justsecurity.org/66742/why-officials-keep-testifying-despite-white-house-counsels-letter-on-impeachment-inquiry/

xp Aimless that’s no reason not to do it

if not for the short-term than for history every one of their obstructions needs to go on the record

the 2012 win wasn't a surprise, but it definitely came a bit easier than the conventional wisdom suspected

― voodoo chili, Wednesday, June 3, 2020 4:52 PM bookmarkflaglink

it was touch and go for a bit after the first debate! much of the data was just a temporary spike that corrected itself, and most of the prognosticators like 538, NYT, PEC, Drew Linzer et al did have Obama as the slight favorite throughout Sept/October, but it was close enough that dumb conservatives actually thought they were winning, and Rasmussen actually forecasted a Romney electoral victory a few weeks before the election. My friend got invited to a Free At Last party by a delusional Romney stan that was convinced they were going to win.

I definitely wasn't shocked when it happened, as by election week, Obama had started to pull away and 538 gave him better odds than Clinton had on election day, but we were all very nervous iirc in the election thread, whereas Obama was pretty much the favorite as soon as Palin showed up.

normal decision tree

Only a couple hours ago, the AP reported that the Pentagon was beginning to send regular Army troops deployed to DC back to their home bases. Now Secretary Esper has abruptly reversed that order. Seems very likely that the White House found out – quite possibly from the news report – and ordered Esper to reverse course.

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/remarkable-remarkable

what's the over/under on how long it would take a lame-duck GOP Senate to change the SCOTUS confirmation rules back to what they were before they changed them in 2017 to confirm Gorsuch and Kavanaugh...if Dems took the Senate.

Obama was pretty much the favorite as soon as Palin showed up.

Palin was less a factor in 2008 than McCain's near-paralysis in the face of the financial collapse in September/October. With Republicans holding power for 8 straight years, it was impossible to deflect responsibility for the collapse onto the Democrats. Bush lost what was left of his public support as Wall Street burned and the TARP was unveiled, and he took McCain down with him because McCain wasn't free to repudiate his party's leadership.

Aimless, I slightly disagree. McCain absolutely was in a position to repudiate party leadership because as The Maverick he could've done, but instead his intellectual sloth, moral torpor, and general stupidity prevented him. No Republican would've won in 2008, let's be clear, but McCain could've done better if he hadn't been Overrated John McCain.

Mad Dog is mad:
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/06/james-mattis-denounces-trump-protests-militarization/612640/

so The Maverick wasn't always 100% bullshit? xp

Holy shit Mattis

“Devoir de reserve” Mattis (https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/10/james-mattis-trump/596665/)

Well that was unexpected. Is he the highest profile ex-Trump appointee to trash the fucker?

for real. where's the tax returns?

man if there's a conspiracy by 'the deep state' to keep trump's hands tied i wish it would hurry the fuck up

I'm sure someone already posted this, but just in case.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZevgdbMIB0

so The Maverick wasn't always 100% bullshit? xp

― brooklyn suicide cult (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, June 3, 2020 6:18 PM (thirty-five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Worse than bullshit, but no one here believed it.

i'm a 9/11 truther

to be clear, i mean that i believe GWB really did read that book. he fucking nailed it!

― Karl Malone, Wednesday, June 3, 2020 2:01 PM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

grand slam

Mattis 'trashed' everything when he was fired. your short memories puzzle me

“I had no choice but to leave,” he says in that book interview. same shit, different volume, adjusted for audience.

OK doctor

he's not a real doctor

Everything anybody else posts is just dross for your supercilious punker-than-thou sanctimony. This is actually why we post tbf

is it punk to wonder how moist Rachel Maddow got when she licked that Mattis copy tonight? slid right onto the studio floor in 3 seconds, I bet. MSNBC Glide.

I wanna see her riding a missile Major Kong / Hanoi Jane style. so fuckin' butch

I don’t know why I keep tapping through to read your posts after I killfiled you, I really need better hobbies.

Your misogyny is noted

I don't think its supercilious of me to want to shoot every career military man in the head

I didn't know Mattis had a pussy

Now we have to rate the thread "Adult" - thanks, Morbs

I don't think any of us are on the Jim Mattis Tugjob Committee, just noting that this is 70 times more vitriol that any other departed appointee has managed thus far. Everybody else has just gone into silent retirement or been named Scaramucci.

Of course, nobody's going to ask him to his face about the time he spent licking Trump's boots.

It's not not a big deal.

esp whem you are threatening to wield the military

when

Mattis Tugjob Committee would good name for an acappella group.

anyway the point isn't what we think of four-star generals, it's that Trump worships them and he's gotta be cwwwwyyyyying right now

this is his worst nightmare, being called a "baby" (not mature)—up there with "dog" as his favorite insult—by a big strong so handsome tough army man

i just saw that Tom Cotton oped in the times and holy god, fuck them.

hmm the other day tom cotton said that cops/guard should 'give no quarter' -- a war crime even if it weren't against one's fellow citizens -- yet that doesn't seem to be addressed here

fwiw I don’t think Mattis or McMaster were ever in their roles to “lick boots,” they took the positions they did so that people of Esper or Flynn’s ilk wouldn’t be able to step in

I realize I am the only person on this board who thinks this, idgaf.

xp cotton manages to somehow stand out, doesn't he? you've got longtime pieces of shit like roy blunt whose main contribution to fascism is nodding along to it all and never taking either the total credit or fall for anything. then you've got a guy like cotton, who is like an evangelist for the cause, taking it to new heights, carving out his own niche of evil innovation. he seems like he has completely lost his mind. look at his eyes when he's getting into it - it's super weird

xp that may be true, but either way they failed

tom cotton is a fucking traitor and should be shot.

really wish I hadn't read that I'm having an anuerysm

On the contrary, nihilist criminals are simply out for loot and the thrill of destruction, with cadres of left-wing radicals like antifa infiltrating protest marches to exploit Floyd’s death for their own anarchic purposes.

^that's a hotlink to Barr's statement on categorizing Antifa as terror group, FUCK THE NEW YORK TIMES

the link to antifa goes to a bill barr press release. i should really unsubscribe.

dude

A lot of people persist in thinking Tom Cotton could be president one day. Apparently James Bennet is one of them, and wanted to taste-test his balls in advance.

NYT precedent

Well, there was this ... if in 1941 pic.twitter.com/b6af2D4qYl

— Jules Boykoff (@JulesBoykoff) June 4, 2020

I realize I am the only person on this board who thinks this

No. I think that's a fairly accurate reading of what they thought they were doing, but it was probably less about who they feared would get the job if they refused, and more about the obviously paramount need to steer events safely through the Trump minefield. Which they thought they could do. But no one can.

Morbs would not be impressed by that, because in his eyes being a general officer is disqualifying for the offices they filled, simply by reason of their military training and allegiance.

But Barr very clearly teabags Trump like nobody's business.

not sure barr really cares about trump; he just wants to see people under the boot

Mattis is a war criminal, serving Trump is just a cherry on the fuck him forever cake.

jfc how much of a piece of shit is james bennet https://www.thedailybeast.com/new-york-times-staffers-in-open-revolt-over-running-tom-cottons-send-in-the-troops-column?source=twitter&via=desktop

both sides! even if one is calling for state-sponsored murder!

But Barr very clearly teabags Trump like nobody's business.

― A is for (Aimless)

Thanks for the image!

Thread got thirsty all of a sudden...

I don't even understand why newspapers have opinion sections and editorials in the first place. It's fucking stupid, just more noise.

Entertainment.

It’s relatively cheap content and often generates lots of “engagement”

Op-eds are free, columnists get paid a lot but are cheap in regards to expenses, people click on stupid shit

They should cancel them all and just give a blank check to Bill Waterson instead.

Like, the entire internet is one big stupid opinion column, I read newspapers to counteract the noise, not to amplify it.

That said, I canceled my subscription to the Times a few years ago because the bullshit got too much. They have been so consistently cynical in how they have been covering this administration that it often does a grave disservice to and even undercuts all the hard work their excellent reporters have been doing.

And don't even get me started on the Chicago Tribune editorial board endorsing Gary Johnson.

for real. where's the tax returns?

― reggie (qualmsley), Thursday, June 4, 2020 8:37 AM (forty-four minutes ago)

📯📯📯

good evening!

good evening alfred

Going to bed shortly, after a blast of Lady Gaga and Jorge Ben.

the times does a great deal of good work, a great deal of fluffing the rich and occasionally is an abomination.

http://www.cnn.com/2020/06/03/politics/pat-robertson-donald-trump/?iid=ob_lockedrail_topeditorial

I know how awful Pat Robertson is--just looking at this as possible evidence of all this as a turning point (or, to put it another way, of people running for cover).

xpost Alas, the abominations are often the chosen headlines, which happen to be printed in a type size several times larger than that used in the story itself, and also happen to be the most the average person probably sees or reads of the Times.

yes

it's easy and satisfying, though unfair, to hold hundreds of editors and reporters and photographers responsible for the fuckheaded decisions of one editor in a different office

rare case where i'd recommend reading the comments though

You mean the opinion sub-columns?

how else should one hold the fuckheaded decisions responsible

Nyt op eds have comment threads.

Xp, not to mookie.

https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/donald-trumps-fascist-performance

Donald Trump thinks power looks like masked men in combat uniforms lined up in front of the marble columns of the Lincoln Memorial. He thinks it looks like Black Hawk helicopters hovering so low over protesters that they chop off the tops of trees. He thinks it looks like troops using tear gas to clear a plaza for a photo op. He thinks it looks like him hoisting a Bible in his raised right hand.

Trump thinks power sounds like this: “Our country always wins. That is why I am taking immediate Presidential action to stop the violence and restore security and safety in America . . . dominate the streets . . . establish an overwhelming law-enforcement presence. . . . If a city or state refuses . . . I will deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them. . . . We are putting everybody on warning. . . . One law and order and that is what it is. One law—we have one beautiful law.” To Trump, power sounds like the word “dominate,” repeated over and over on a leaked call with governors. It sounds like the silence of the men in uniform when they are asked who they are.

Trump got these ideas from television and Hollywood movies, and he had the intuition to recognize them. He knew what he wanted to imitate. We know that he likes the military and its parades. (A senior Administration official, speaking with the Daily Beast, attempted to downplay the President’s interest in tanks: “I think that is just one of the military words he knows.”) Perhaps he has seen many movies that feature the Black Hawk, that monster of military-industrial production, the metal embodiment of brute force. Perhaps Trump heard that, when Russia occupied Crimea, it flooded the peninsula with men in unmarked uniforms—they dominated without ever identifying themselves. Perhaps he heard the word “dominate” in his recent telephone conversation with Vladimir Putin. Perhaps he had seen a picture of Hitler in a similar pose, or perhaps he just conflated two gestures that symbolize power in American politics: one hand raised, the other on the Bible—this may explain the slight uncertainty of his display, as if he weren’t sure how much the book was supposed to weigh.

The President is a talented performer who plays an exaggerated version of an idea of who he is. On “The Apprentice,” he played what he thought a wildly successful real-estate developer would be like. He made inane pronouncements with great aplomb, and, as my colleague Patrick Radden Keefe wrote, in a Profile of the creator of “The Apprentice,” Mark Burnett, Trump made bizarre decisions that the makers of the show then scrambled to make look credible in the editing room. When the show started, Trump was a has-been, an occasional butt of tabloid jokes; by the time it ended, he and the audience both believed that he was one of the wealthiest and most successful businessmen on the planet. That, in turn, made his Presidential campaign if not immediately plausible then at least imaginable.

A power grab is always a performance of sorts. It begins with a claim to power, and if the claim is accepted—if the performance is believed—it takes hold. Much as he played a real-estate tycoon in the most crude and reductive way, Trump is now performing his idea of power as he imagines it. In his intuition, power is autocratic; it affirms the superiority of one nation and one race; it asserts total domination; and it mercilessly suppresses all opposition. Whether or not he is capable of grasping the concept, Trump is performing fascism.

I don't even understand why newspapers have opinion sections and editorials in the first place.

(sings)
Don't know much about history.
Don't know what an op-ed is for.
Don't know much about politics.
Or why publishers manipulate.
But I do know one and one is two,
and if editors spoke the truth,
what a wonderful world this would be.

Of the three letters making news tonight, this one is the big deal. It is a big deal that he felt the need to issue it. It is a big deal that he issued it. pic.twitter.com/ONHniXXLst

— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) June 4, 2020

What the ever loving fuck

Yeah, he’s implicitly reminding everyone in uniform that they obey lawful orders, not the other kind.

That letter is quite something

the military taking the opportunity to differentiate themselves from the police! still too many war crimes but a nice gesture idk

not that one should entirely trust the og planet subjugation force ;)

Rudy shits the bed. All of the bed. And the bedroom. And the rest of his house.

Rudy Giuliani completely loses the plot on #GMB.

Piers Morgan - you sound completely barking mad. pic.twitter.com/iS6kyJWfVi

— Haggis_UK 🇬🇧 🇪🇺 (@Haggis_UK) June 4, 2020

Ot one point I was convinced he was going to shout "BOXCAR!"

He said “sucked up” though

Fuck Piers Morgan for years of defending Trump

Earlier in that interview, Giuliani finally explains what Trump meant when he said 'when the looting starts, the shooting starts' (not a retaliatory boast, you see, but a recognition that people who loot will naturally progress to shooting police officers and what have you).

Those two walking nutsacks deserve one another.

He said “sucked up” though

Rudy def needs new dentures

Fuck Piers Morgan for years of defending Trump

at least

Rudy shits the bed. All of the bed. And the bedroom. And the rest of his house.

when he shits around the house...he really shits around the house

not that one should entirely trust the og planet subjugation force ;)

of which yours is just a particularly well-resourced sub-unit :D

lawful orders

Colonel Kurtz, he dead

If Trump controls a loyal core of CBP and BOP officers they could be his brownshirts for arresting Biden on inauguration day and possibly murdering him.

This isn't the 70s political thriller fanfic thread

Is Dwayne Johnson gonna run for President in 2024 or 2028?

IT DOESN'T MATTER

I am hoping Dwayne Johnson leads the insurrection if Trump finagles re-election

no, it must be mark sinclair. known professionally as vin diesel

Dwayne Johnson

Rock the Vote, ready-made slogan, obv

Rock/Jesse Ventura dream ticket

folks, lisa murkowski is struggling

Extraordinary comments just now from Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) who tells us Mattis’ words were “true, honest, necessary and overdue.” Says she’s struggling with the question of whether to support Trump in 2020.

— Andrew Desiderio (@AndrewDesiderio) June 4, 2020

Jesse's Twitter feed is pretty righteous right now based on what he's retweeting he's on the right side of this.

Oh man, maybe Collins will be TROUBLED next

"he's a threat to the constitution, I agree. i just don't know if I can vote for him. i just don't know. we will see."

Susan Collins will be troubled right up to the brink of making a good decision, before concluding no, not today

It's Defcon 4.83

somewhere out there in the quiet woods of Maine, i believe that olympia snowe is feeling a pang of feeling troubled. she looks right, then left, then moves slightly right. it is ok now

the correct way always seems to be slightly to the right in these woods

lisa murkowski, everyone! let's give her a warm hand

Ms. Murkowski added that when she saw the statement released on Wednesday by Mr. Mattis, a former four-star Marine Corps general, “I felt like perhaps we’re getting to the point where we can be more honest with the concerns that we might hold internally, and have the courage of our own convictions to speak up.”

Murkowski frustrates me more than Mindy Moderate. By all accounts she loathes McConnell after what he did to make her lose her race several years ago, and if anything her base respects her independence -- she voted against Kavanaugh!

https://www.statesman.com/news/20200603/abbott-calls-for-bexar-county-gop-chair-to-resign-for-spreading-george-floyd-conspiracy-theory

When you lose Abbott & Cornyn...

i mean she's been in the fucking senate for 17 years, but only this letter from a troop has given her the courage to speak truthfully

“I felt like perhaps we’re getting to the point where we can be more honest with the concerns that we might hold internally, and have the courage of our own convictions to speak up.”

"Of course, I don't count myself as part of this 'we,' but you know what I mean..."

“I felt like perhaps we’re getting to the point where we can be more honest with the concerns that we might hold internally"

can murk speak more about _why_ they haven't been able to be more honest with their concerns?

can it be anything other than keeping power at all expenses?

'i feel like perhaps we're getting' can you please add some more hedging words into your weak ass statement please

https://i.imgur.com/jVvEfTB.gif

Like Jiminy sang, 'eventually let your conscience be your guide, maybe, or...I don't know, what do you think?'

In good news this POS is dead.

Haha

Folks... https://t.co/ofHIuFhFCS

— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) June 4, 2020

good speech for a celeb!

i like how he looks like he can kick ass. we need a president who can kick some ass!

He definitely looks like he could dominate. And you have to...well, you know.

he's rich, he can kick some ass, AND he's an actor! god, if some old footage came up showing that he looked good in a tight trunks, you may as well call the 2024 election

He's so right. If Trump showed even an iota of humility, empathy or responsibility, he would get way more credit than he would deserve. And of course he'd win the election.

watch eric trump DEMOLISH liberal bed-wetters in this epic tweet!!

Never forget that we still live in the greatest country on earth! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/2ZUZ8rtM0q

— Eric Trump (@EricTrump) June 3, 2020

Date night. pic.twitter.com/b6bIswO5OT

— Connie Schultz (@ConnieSchultz) June 3, 2020

i was actually thinking about dwayne johnson earlier this week because my terrible son makes me watch moana two (2) times each day.

i was thinking, he was generally assumed to be a republican right? the idea of him running as a republican currently seems preposterous. this is a measure of how far the GOP has gone (i.e. from super racist to openly super racist).

are they gold hamburgers in that photo?

yeah but they were cooked in a toilet

i was thinking, he was generally assumed to be a republican right?

I would have 100% assumed The Rock was a Democrat. But I don't know that much about him.

most WWE people are Republicans

the rock is totally a republicans buy shoes-type guy

i mean if i thought about his politics for the first time today then yeah i guess he's a democrat, but he spoke at the GOP convention under GWB iirc?

he's also a big fan of the troops

That photo from the church is just ... like, aside from everything else, these people are so goddam weird.

yes

It's very "American Gothic."

that blue curtain in the background seems out of place, almost lynchian

Plenty of USO show regulars / “big fans of the troops” are Democrats

the President of the United States seems very fired up about a 13% unemployment rate

Trump's popularity is plummeting with both evangelicals & catholics, how many more awkward photo-ops where he has to pretend to be religious are we gonna see in the next few months?

There are many more significant reasons to hate the guy, but I can't wait to have a president again that doesn't do 90% of his communications with the public while he's sitting on the shitter every morning.

who's ready for their blood pressure to rise

Trump said that hopefully George Floyd is looking down from heaven and saying today is a great day for the country.

“It’s a great day for him and it’s a great day for everybody,” he says.

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) June 5, 2020