US Politics, March 2024: The house of illuminati will NOT be holding any other event in the foreseeable future.

(musician Mike Johnson is quietly amazing on this:

Mark Lanegan - The Winding Sheet (1990, Sub Pop Records) )

^^^^ I have a first pressing of that on red vinyl, bought it when it came out

Feel like someone should start a Mike Johnson thread on ILM, but it would probably just swerve into a political discussion.

So what does the dem margin of victory have to be in order to get 1 of the 3 trump-appointed sc justices to vote against overturning the election?

Not the most comforting reading, but

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/03/15/mr-maga-goes-to-washington-00147054

The coverage of Vance’s first year in office has largely overlooked his emerging role as the political face of the New Right

how many times has a 'New Right' emerged and then imploded? Wasn't Paul Ryan part of some "New Right"?

The 'New Right' can't differentiate themselves from Trump and MAGA because in today's GOP it is dangerous to say anything that is different from what Trump says. So there is no 'New Right' except as a weak ass branding tool that no one knows about or cares about except younger politicians like Vance.

This whole idea of 'reshaping America' ignores that fact that most Americans live in cities, and most people who live in cities want nothing to do with this poppycock.. so this 'reshaping America' might gain some traction in suburban Oaklahoma City or the outskirts of Boise, but nobody else gives a shit

suburban Oklahoma City or the outskirts of Boise

I've been to Boise. It's a nice, cosmopolitan city with a walkable downtown and some really nice restaurants and an art museum and a club that books death metal bands. This shit isn't even gonna fly in Idaho, a state that has basically doubled its population since 2020, almost entirely thanks to an influx of California transplants.

JD Vance is as powerful now as he is ever going to be. His personality is just as repellent as Ron DeSantis's, and he's a craven flip-flopper who talked mad shit about Trump when that seemed like the safe bet, then went total bootlicker when that was the move. He has loser stink on him, and Americans hate a loser. He'll probably be able to hang onto his Senate seat for as long as he wants it, but eventually he'll quit and become a corporate lobbyist or something equally vile and amoral. But in the meantime, he'll be the subject of blowjob profiles from Washington insider journalists, who are some of the stupidest people on Earth.

otm

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2024/03/15/politics/texas-busing-migrants-donations-invs

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott boasted shortly after he began soliciting private donations for his controversial migrant busing program that there would likely “be no cost to the state” given the outpouring of support from concerned citizens across the country.

But after nearly two years of fundraising to offset the program’s costs, Abbott’s operation has collected less than half of 1% of the roughly $150 million spent on busing migrants to sanctuary cities, according to a review of state records. And CNN found that the largest donation – $900,000 – never made it into the state’s coffers, either because it was a mistake or a prank.

Records show that at most, around $550,000 has been raised to date.

All prospective donors shot their wads on Trump sneakers & NFTs.

Even if convictions don't happen before the election, it's possible the mere existence of the cases may suppress the T vote - Maybe even enough to overcome the people ostensibly rallying to his side because "he's being treated so unfairly." IMO if you're on Team "He's being treated so unfairly," you were already on the Trump Train.

NY times has updated headline from Trump does "freewheeling " speech to : Trump Says Some Migrants Are ‘Not People’ and Predicts a ‘Blood Bath’ if He Loses

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/16/us/politics/trump-speech-ohio.html?unlocked_article_code=1.dU0.sir9.UmpIP0xdPxeb&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb

Trump called migrants "animals" in Dayton, Ohio speech yesterday

Trump began that rally with a call to stand up and salute the "great patriots" "the January 6 hostages.”

his appeal must surely be growing more selective

lol

Freewheeling = no brakes

nah I think it's true, the Jan 6th stuff is a real liability, obviously a lot of voters will bear it and vote for him anyway but there's a lot of evidence that it's lost him a lot of support in the center. but he can't exactly disown them because then he loses support from the crazies. a skilled politician could probably thread the needle somehow but Trump is in way too deep and also I suspect his brain doesn't work anymore

Increasingly freewheelin'

He can't disavow them without letting of the RIGGED ELECTION stuff. What he's forcing all Republican voters to do is to some degree ratify that claim. Especially if he actually wins this year, he will insist on that being the real story — the unjust rigged ouster, followed by righteous restoration. He's built a mythology that he's trying to make manifest, and weirdly enough he has a reasonable chance of doing it.

Oh god if he wins he’s going to pardon all those PB and 3 percenters and let them run wild in the streets.

he'll embolden them like they've never been emboldened before

they'll be whatever the opposite of increasingly isolated is

warmly embraced?

excruciatingly coddled

Hell, they'll end up on his payroll, through a layer or two removed natch, to do his dirty work.

that eyepatch fuck will be attorney general

Crenshaw? Trump hates him I think.

No, isn't there a Proud Boy type with an eyepatch too? A real piece of shit?

Got like, 18 years in the clink for Jan. 6?

and for being a real piece of shit?

A piece of shit with an eyepatch.

Shot his own eye out?

Oath Keeper (lol) leader Stewart Rhodes. I forgot about the Oath Keepers!

They should at least take an oath to use firearms responsibly.

Oath Keepers were especially active in recruiting police. You have to figure most of their members are still in place, but laying low for now.

"stand back and stand by"

So how is it that Peter Navarro goes to jail but not Bannon?

bannon secretes an oil that allows him to slide between the bars

https://i0.wp.com/bloody-disgusting.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/hobo-with-a-shotgun-review.jpg

Hell, they'll end up on his payroll, through a layer or two removed natch, to do his dirty work.

The silver lining in this scenario is that we know Trump would never actually pay them

I’ve gotta a pretty firm rule that I never celebrate people showing up for prison. And it’s because it’s a terrible (which isn’t to say it’s wrong or unnecessary) thing to see, even when it’s right and deserved. But this dude is really straining my system. I mean stfu already. https://t.co/ayeMAvmDdM

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) March 19, 2024

He looks like he's been in prison for decades

In a sense he has.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/19/us/politics/alabama-dei-bill.html

Alabama Republicans pushed through a sprawling measure on Tuesday that would not only ban state funding for diversity, equity and inclusion programs at public universities, local boards of education and government agencies, but also limit the teaching of “divisive concepts” surrounding race, gender and identity.

The bill passed with broad support in the State Legislature, but faced vehement opposition from student groups, civil rights advocates and Democrats who said it was a chilling attempt to undercut free speech and diversity efforts, especially given Alabama’s history of educational segregation and racism.

The bill also forbids public universities and colleges from allowing transgender people to use bathrooms that align with their gender identity...
....
With the legislation, Alabama lawmakers join a broad, right-wing campaign that has targeted D.E.I. programs and initiatives, and has sought to roll back or limit efforts to expand racial diversity on college campuses across the country.

The prohibitions are largely focused on the teaching of “divisive concepts,” which the bill defines in part as assigning “fault, blame or bias” to any race, religion, gender or nationality. Other examples of divisive concepts include teaching that a person is “inherently responsible for actions committed in the past” or that a person should “accept, acknowledge, affirm or assent to a sense of guilt, complicity or a need to apologize” based on their race, religion, gender or background.

All of these anti-DEI bills ought to be shot down on basic 1st Amendment grounds because they are 100 percent content-based prohibitions. But who knows what to expect from the courts anymore. It’s just, how much more blatant could it be than fucking Alabama passing laws basically saying you can’t say anything about race that will make white people feel bad. The Confederacy ain’t dead.

Florida's initiative is basically dead because the courts stopped it.

I know this is an unpopular thing to say, and why it is, but it’s almost like many states in this country just don’t want me to ever visit them, spend money there, etc.

I feel like this kind of undermines the Biden impeachment effort, but maybe James Comer can explain how it actually helps

former Giuliani associate Lev Parnas: "From shortly after my arrest on October 9, 2019, to now, I have been trying to share the irrefutable truth with you: The American people have been lied to by Trump, Giuliani, & various cohorts of individuals in govt and media positions." pic.twitter.com/q5aHzAk0HL

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 20, 2024

nah the New York Times will