US Politics, April 2024: "Are You Better Off Today Than You Were <Checks Notes> Four Years Ago?"

Not with Trump, but with folks in general? You don't mess with man's best friend, as Mike Vick found out.

Yeah, I agree with this. I was just saying it won't hurt her with Trump, but it's just one more thing that is seemingly OK with him (and his ever-shrinking cult) but repellent to normal people.

how does stuff like that land in a book though? isn't there an editor at some point? you'd think national politicians would have and would want multiple layers of vetting to make sure they don't, you know, brag about killing their pets

These are people who only talk to each other and to people who think like them. I guarantee the ghostwriter and editor were both quizzed extensively about their political beliefs before they got the gig.

"Do you shoot dogs or eat them? Do you shoot dogs and eat them?"

Apparently there's a theory circulating that Noem doesn't want to be Trump's VP, but doesn't want to offend him by turning him down, so this is her way of taking herself out of contention and making it seem like it was his idea.

In order to get her book written and published in time to deter Trump she must have had a clairvoyant for a consultant.

I don’t know, I used to think (way back) that school shootings would be THE issue that finally turns people off towards guns and even the GOP at large. And these are children we’re talking about. But all it did was make people double down on how great guns are. If Trump makes Noem his running mate, people will be shooting their dogs left and right like it’s the thing to do.

I think there is some truth to the idea that a lot of folks in this country care more about dogs than they do people though

oh hell yeah. millions do.

"In 2022, Americans spent $136.8 billion on their pets, up nearly 11% from 2021 ($123.6 billion)."

"The US Dog Food Market size was estimated at USD 46.1 billion in 2023 and is anticipated to reach around USD 55.8 billion by 2032..."

Laura Loomer, a right-wing activist and Trump ally, wrote on X, “You can’t shoot your dog and then be VP.”

Shooting your lawyer, however...

it's fucked up but there probably is a small cohort of conservatives who relate to stories about shooting your own animals.

100%, I've encountered them - their attitude toward animals differentiates them from all those weak-ass libs who are soft on animals etc..

That story gets put in the book precisely because she wants to establish bona fides with those people, it's like Sarah Palin shooting wolves from helicopters. (Which also didn't work because they're in too deep to realize people who are cool with this stuff are a distinct minority.)

That’s probably what she was going for, but it’s quite a misfire. Unlike … the one that killed Cricket.

The cruelty is the point, after all.

Maybe it’s to show a contrast with Biden, who didn’t have what it took to shoot his dog when it kept biting people.

“You can’t shoot your dog and then be VP.” for May Thread Title.

you can shoot your human hunting partner and be a VP

it's encouraged in fact

Didn’t Joni Ernst brag about castrating pigs in her campaign ads?

https://historycolored.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/TeddyRooseveltElephant-1024x720.jpg

Mitt Romney put down many a varmint in his day.

gonna watch correspondents' dinner. colin jost. hilarity is ensured!

Didn’t Joni Ernst brag about castrating pigs in her campaign ads?

― Never fight uphill 'o me, boys! (President Keyes), Saturday, April 27, 2024 6:54 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

Yup - to make some point about cutting pork barrel spending iirc

“Of course, age is an issue. I’m a grown man, and I’m running against a six-year-old,” President Biden jokes at the White House Correspondents Dinner. “Age is the only thing we have in common…My vice president actually endorses me.”

— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) April 28, 2024

Anyway, everyone in the House GOP hates everyone else. (Gift link.)

Maybe it’s to show a contrast with Biden, who didn’t have what it took to shoot his dog when it kept biting people.

Ned's link 404'd me. :(

Here is one that should work

https://wapo.st/3JEkieH

Indeed!

Good morning!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQMlWwIXg3M

The May thread has to have a dog killer title. Possibilities:

"Hey, where's Cricket?"
"grabbing one chicken at a time, crunching it to death with one bite"
"I hated that dog."
"Less than worthless as a hunting dog"
"I dragged him to a gravel pit."
"I hurried back to the gravel pit and put him down”

that last sentence is the story of America.

Johnny Cash meets Wu Tang

gravel pit of fire collab

love you america...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTRMSfov7l0

Monroe County District Attorney Sandra Doorley for Vice President!

though to be fair that kind of fucked up privilege can probably be found anywhere in the world. its just FEELS especially american.

was really expecting some violence

Repeat after me. "Do you know who I am? Do you know WHO I AM?!"

Why are you so angry?

thought it was MTG at the beginning

One particular issue is currently working against Biden and Democrats among young voters.

“The Israel/Hamas war in Gaza reflects one of the sharpest policy differences by age we have seen over a 40-year period,” McInturff writes. “President Biden’s support for Israel has collapsed his standing with one of his key and previously most supportive subgroups, 18-to-29-year-old voters.”

McInturff compared data on voters 18 to 34, in two categories: surveys conducted between January and September 2023 ,before the war began, and surveys conducted after it started, between November 2023 and January 2024.

The shift among these young voters is terrible news for the Biden campaign. In the pre-Gaza polling, young voters backed Biden by 29 points, 61-32. In the post-Gaza surveys, Biden’s advantage over Trump fell to four points, 45-41.
…

If the decline in young peoples’ support for Democrats holds true through Election Day, it will be a major setback for Democratic strategists who, before the outbreak of the Israeli-Hamas war, were banking on what appeared to be a secure partisan commitment by Gen Z and Millennials to the Democratic Party.
…

According to the Harvard survey, “Young Americans support a permanent cease-fire in Gaza by a five-to-one margin (51 percent support, 10 percent oppose). No major subgroup of young voters opposes such action.”

That column also has interesting, terrible centrist bullshit from the likes of Richard Reeves:

In the centrifugal dynamic of culture-war politics, the more the right goes to one extreme, the more the left must go to the other, and vice versa. The left dismisses biology, the right leans too heavily on it. The left see a war on girls and women; the right see a war on boys and men. The left pathologizes masculinity; the right pathologizes feminism.

#bothsides

oh yeah, i rolled my eyes heavy at that BS

The people blathering on about same-sex spaces and the presence of trans service users within are idiots who probably have never needed those services.

i did the math and the amount of votes that trump loses to kennedy is the exact same as the amount of votes that biden loses over gaza. i used a calculator.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/proxy/QHPxRvHEW8LrCghSH8TmEU914ujtq_snvheG2T6Ws8iiMM5_R4atYLBma9Aaql0s0HeEef-v1Cr7ZZWJHkkK-wAj16qKxYELqU_FzsknlcREnve7xVyrf0xZ_mxWG0eK

meanwhile...

https://i.postimg.cc/MpjVG9HR/IMG-2290.jpg

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/politics-elections/2024/05/01/house-republicans-expand-investigations-campus

In addition to the education committee, leaders of the Ways and Means, Judiciary, Oversight, Energy and Commerce, and Science, Space and Technology committees will be launching or continuing inquiries as part of the House-wide effort. The specifics of their investigations aren’t entirely clear, though lawmakers indicated where they might go. For example, Ways and Means will be looking into the tax-exempt status of institutions while Judiciary wants more information about the role of international students in the protests.

Have we achieved full mccarthyism yet?

GOP conveniently eliding that the students are protesting Biden administration policies.

#bipartisanship