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

I still remember her as Gavin Newsom’s wife on the bearskin rug

She should've stuck with the bear.

so often, the politics thread titles become stale right away as we move onto the next outrage.. but the puppy killer is still fresh

Amid a media tour in which Noem was challenged on CBS about an apparent threat to kill Joe Biden’s dog, the governor sought friendlier turf at Newsmax. Eric Bolling, a former Fox News host, duly attempted to give her a way to climb off her hurtling train of bad PR.

Bolling said: “You don’t write the whole book at once, you write a chapter or two, you send it to the editors and they edit. They read it, they add, they subtract.

“And here’s my question: the editor, was she possibly a plant? A liberal plant? Because I’m not sure either one of these stories, this dog story, the North Korea story, seems like the Kristi Noem I know.”

Noem said: “The buck always stops with me. I take my own full responsibility. I wrote this book and then I take the responsibility for what’s in it.”

I think that reply was worth at least two feet of dirt in the hole she’s digging for herself

Trying to fob off responsibility onto her editors, claiming they maliciously inserted false and damaging stories into her book, would have been far worse than owning it. Also, that would have opened her to a lawsuit for libel.

Well, she would've been given a proof for final okay anyway I assume

To be fair, this is the plant in question.

https://images.pexels.com/photos/9331396/pexels-photo-9331396.jpeg

Apparently Pete Buttigeig was in my neighborhood today, visiting the Flathead Reservation to announce $110 million worth of improvements to Highway 93, a road I travel several times a month.

I saw a car with a Buttigieg 2020 bumper sticker today. It was not Pete Buttigieg driving.

I saw a car with a Buttigieg 2020 bumper sticker today

You can never look back.

Scott just accused Sanders, who is Jewish, of "speaking with a forked tongue" in calling for a commitment not just to fight anti-Semitism but all forms of hatred.

— Dr. Mary Anne Franks (@ma_franks) May 7, 2024

And cloven hooves

We hear they drink children's blood.

lol Alfred

With his receding hairline, Bernie has an increasingly hard time hiding his horns.

NYT lede.

voters are divided

RFK Jr has literal brainworms
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/08/us/rfk-jr-brain-health-memory-loss.html

that is so awesome...

he is a living horror movie.

this is my fave detail. you rant for years about mercury-laden vaccines and BAM! killed by a tuna sandwich. its like the worst Twilight Zone episode ever written.

"At the time, Mr. Kennedy also was a few years into his crusade against thimerosal, a mercury-containing preservative used in some vaccines. He is a longtime vaccine skeptic who has falsely linked childhood inoculations to a rise in autism, as well as to other medical conditions.
In the interview, Mr. Kennedy said he was certain his diet had caused the poisoning. “I loved tuna fish sandwiches. I ate them all the time,” he said."

loving tuna fish sandwiches is its own disqualfier it’s in the constitution ffs

RFK Jr says a worm ate part of his brain and then died inside his head

is maybe the greatest lede I've ever encountered.

You guys don't get it. RFK's brain KILLS brain worms! We've got to extract it and use it to make a brain worm vaccine.

Poor worm must’ve starved to death

He figured out the only way to get people to stop talking about porn stars and puppy murder.

although i think when people hear this they won't be shocked they will be like "yeah, that makes sense.". that's kinda how i feel. business as usual in 2024.

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/08/trump-wins-delay-in-georgia-criminal-cases-00156791

ah well nevertheless

Can we all just finally admit that Trump is never ever ever ever going to suffer a single material consequence of living a life filled with wall-to-wall malfeasance? And no, irritation and inconvenience and losing large sums of money that will be instantly replenished from other sources as if by magic don't count as consequences.

but I hear he is increasingly isolated

Well, at least the appeals court issued a “terse” order. That’ll teach him.

Can we all just finally admit that Trump is never ever ever ever going to suffer a single material consequence of living a life filled with wall-to-wall malfeasance?

I think this is the wrong way to look at it, actually. We all live in our heads, material comforts or external rewards are no guarantee of contentment, happiness, satisfaction, peace. Rest assured that Trump's life is a total nightmare and the inside of his head is a miserable mess of paranoia, fear, self-loathing and anxiety and will be until the day he dies.

that being said, (paraphrasing John Lee Hooker), serves him right to suffer

ty Shakey <3

Shakey otm

Bruh I could use some fucking money tho, I would be a lot happier with some money

Honestly tho, whenever anyone trots out that old saw, I roll my eyes. Nearly every single person I know or see on the street in my day to day would be happier if they had more money.

If i didn’t have to work 3+ gigs in order to make things work, I would be happier.

Table OTM

You're not really happy unless you have multiple pyramid schemes running

make your money work for you as they say

Like, I understand the point being made, but think that leaving it at the latter part— that Trump will never know peace— is sufficient without making it a truism about material comforts that is grossly simplistic and also, funnily enough, untrue

agree with you but would also say that if anyone demonstrates the truth of the phrase "material comforts or external rewards are no guarantee of contentment," then surely it's trump. it doesn't mean that it's always true or that lots of us, myself included, would prefer some fucking money

*wouldn't prefer

oops i accidentally posted in a rolling politics thread

It’s still a bummer because I think this stuff hurts him a lot electorally

If he wins, what powers does he have exactly to quash these charges?

I know this observation doesn't mean squat to the masses of people who have next to no financial security, but the kind of money Trump commands provides very little additional benefit compared to anyone who could reasonably be called middle class. The main thing he gets beyond that point is lots of "fuck you" money. He doesn't even eat that well and on top of that he's a teetotaler so he can't even enjoy $400 bottles of wine, so he spends it on soulless rococo apartments full of gold leaf curlicues.

oh no, the curse of lots of "fuck you" money, don't throw me in the briar patch

if Trump is unhappy at his core rn it's because he doesn't have time to fuck over as many ppl as usual, not because he's cognizant of the suffering he has caused them in the past

Rest assured that Trump's life is a total nightmare and the inside of his head is a miserable mess of paranoia, fear, self-loathing and anxiety and will be until the day he dies.

Trump doesn't feel remorse; he has no sense of interiority, so how can he be conscious of the self-loathing, anxiety, and the rest? Like an animal he has no capacity to brood, except I've known pet lizards with more empathy.

good points all around here, but I do think being in debt to Putin (in more ways than one) must wear on him, unless he has actually sold his soul to the devil which seems more and more plausible

oh no, the curse of lots of "fuck you" money

If you think that having a mountain of "fuck you" money would make you a very happy person, then I guess you are welcome to your priorities.