Magical, Alluring, Galvanizing, Adventurous: US Politics March 2025

Good afternoon1

See? My exclamation points broke down.

Last month's thread, for the nostalgic among us.

Turning On The Giant Faucet Of Bullshit - US Politics February 2025

Red Dawn 2: Electric Magaloo

https://www.semafor.com/article/02/28/2025/why-the-trump-zelenskyy-meeting-imploded

guilty lol at this detail

The lunch that had been prepared for Trump and Zelenskyy alongside a cancelled dual press conference ended up getting eaten by at least one White House aide, a second official confirmed.

A friend of mine from grad school just posted this an hour ago.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10163522383055572&id=790405571

Anyway, what a shame:

https://bsky.app/profile/itsalexberg.bsky.social/post/3ljdkp3zidk2p

Fox News reported that JD Vance had to move to an “undisclosed location” due to protests at the Vermont resort where he’s skiing this weekend. For inflicting misery on the world and here at home in America, this is exactly the energy that should greet Vance wherever he goes for the rest of his days.

lol at "hit a tree!" photo in replies.

relentless persecution and mockery for the rest of these hateful people's lives, yes please

If there is any political strategy at all behind this nihilism, disorder and mass destruction, then the only one I can imagine would be that the radical right fascists must believe that if enough damage is done the federal government will become such a frustrating, incompetent, useless mess that ordinary citizens give up on democracy and embrace any strong leader who promises to strong arm the nation back into some semblance of order and direction.

It seems far more likely to me that Trump isn't attached to any political ideology, strategy, or policy outcome, with the lone exception of racism. He's has always used bullying, chaos and lawlessness as a strategy. Pure chaos ensures everyone around him is constantly off balance, confused, and reacting to his last baffling heel turn. This means he is the only person with agency and everyone else dances to his tune.

For him it's a means of control by pushing everything and everyone else out of control. He's applying it now on a scale that beggars the imagination. It's not in the service of any outcome except keeping Trump in control while everyone scrambles to keep up. Not coincidentally, this makes Trump the perfect instrument for Putin's strategy of drastically weakening the USA.

MSN story:

Mexican Billionaire Carlos Slim Cuts Ties with Elon Musk’s Starlink, Costing Musk $7 Billion After Controversial Tweet

Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim has officially severed ties with Elon Musk’s Starlink, opting to invest in his own telecommunications infrastructure rather than relying on Musk’s satellite technology.

Slim’s company, América Móvil, announced a massive $22 billion investment over the next three years to enhance its network, signaling a major strategic shift in Latin America’s telecommunications industry. The decision is expected to deliver a financial blow to Starlink, which had anticipated a profitable partnership in the region.

Tensions between the two business moguls reportedly escalated after Musk shared a controversial tweet implying Slim had connections to organized crime. Within minutes of the post, Slim canceled all collaborations with Starlink in Latin America, causing Musk to lose an estimated $7 billion.

Shortly after, Slim announced plans to redirect his five-year Starlink projects to European and Chinese companies, further diminishing the U.S.’s commercial presence in the region.

(Nelson Muntz laugh)

Other folks taking business elsewhere. https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/norwegian-fuel-supplier-refuses-u-s-warships-over-ukraine/

yes, very good news

the one phrase that keeps sticking out for me is Robert Evans saying "we're going to have to touch the stove" w/r/t the USA right now, in fact I will do my best to make that the April thread title when it will probably be a lot more appropriate.

Another angry town hall

https://bsky.app/profile/thetnholler.bsky.social/post/3ljecowqgfk2x

Don’t worry, the centrists have a plan

Those gathered then laid out 20 solutions for how Democrats can regain working-class trust and reconnect with them culturally.

More than a few stuck out to Playbook:

The party should “embrace patriotism, community, and traditional American imagery”;
Democrats should “ban far-left candidate questionnaires and refuse to participate in forums that create ideological purity tests” and “move away from the dominance of small-dollar donors whose preferences may not align with the broader electorate”;
They should “push back against far-left staffers and groups that exert a disproportionate influence on policy and messaging” ;
Candidates should “get out of elite circles and into real communities (e.g., tailgates, gun shows, local restaurants, churches)”; and
The party needs to “own the failures of Democratic governance in large cities and commit to improving local government.”

as ever, fuck them

might as well say: “our strategy is to lose harder by appearing even more feckless and unprincipled “

Where was that excerpted from?

lol at ignoring “small-dollar donors,” i.e. the actual people they expect to vote for them. How could that go wrong?

oops didn't include the link - https://www.politico.com/playbook

Third Way retreat o' dumbasses

So the rare minerals deal was just about elon’s cars apparently

“Far-left staffers” … oh the laughters out loud

Searching for the Blue Romney

real communities (e.g., tailgates, gun shows, local restaurants, churches)

damn i should get to a tailgate or a gun show, see what it's like to be in a real community

church, a diner, a gunshow and a football game, you can knock all that out in one day in the right town.

actually it doesn't even say you have to go to the game, just get hammered at the tailgate like a real American

Politico is a republican-leaning website dedicated to distorting democratic talking points, how do you guys not know that?

You should read the original pdf file instead of just accepting milo's post repeating Politico's talking points

Lol distorting Third Way’s talking points?

Every bullet point on that pdf is vomit inducing

fake news! fake news!

5. Fear of Dissent Within the Party
Democrats are perceived as intolerant of internal debate, where questioning progressive orthodoxy results
in backlash rather than open discussion. Candidates and operatives need to feel more comfortable just
saying NO to activist groups and unpalatable far-left ideas.

well that changes everything, clearly Dan S is right and the centrists are OTM

the exurban quadfecta is taken word-for-word from Third Way btw so you're still cleared for a good Cletus safari without earning Dan S's disapproval

whatever that means

I do think the centrists are right. This country has made a very hard turn to the right, in every voting district, and we have to combat that from the middle and not just be hectoring and shaming people from the left

how do you define "from the middle"

From my experience as a queer person of color "from the middle" means "ignoring the parts of our coalition for which we can offer no reasonable explanations for why we must fight for them."

Which is why we should avoid political consultant jargon.

"meet me in the middle" says the unjust man

etc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKsxPW6i3pM

xxxp

I think of the middle as being most of the country, people who are not paying much attention to politics and are generally republican but who don't want their social security or medicare taken away from them and who don't want veterans to lose their benefits

Great song, don't sully it

Dan S, you mean the sort of people who want me, you, and Alfred dead? why bend over backwards for such people?

I think of the middle as being most of the country, people who are not paying much attention to politics and are generally republican but who don't want their social security or medicare taken away from them and who don't want veterans to lose their benefits

― Dan S

Well, Harris had Cheney just for them.

Dan I refuse to concede one single bit more of rhetorical or ideological or real-life territory to fascists, we've seen how this ends and making compromises doesn't work.

also, things like universal health care are massively popular

At any rate this is wrong:

think of the middle as being most of the country, people who are not paying much attention to politics and are generally republican but who don't want their social security or medicare taken away from them and who don't want veterans to lose their benefits

It's "generally Democrats," not Republicans. We won't those people back. We in part lost last year because Dems stayed home, not because we didn't woo Republicans ardently enough.

^^^

Dan, with all due respect, I can't believe I'm seeing MSBNC jargon taken seriously here. I'm gonna take a break from this thread tonight and keep watching the Oscars.

more to Dan: the problem was that the Democrats actively rejected any sort of progressive idea or stance from a specific moment (after Walz was picked) onwards

salut Alfred, I am also taking a break, first time I've had this thread bookmarked in a few weeks.

Every bullet point on that pdf is vomit inducing

― Iza Duffus Hardy (President Keyes), Sunday, March 2, 2025 5:00 PM (forty-two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I didn't expect all of these responses! I'm watching the academy awards and will answer later

this is both very moving and accurately sums up much of the way i am feeling
at present.

https://www.thenation.com/article/activism/rumeysa-ozturk-kaveh-akbar

Trump commuted convicted fraudster Carlos Watson's sentence.

President Donald Trump commuted the criminal fraud sentence of Ozy Media founder Carlos Watson on Friday, just hours before Watson was due to begin serving a 116-month prison term for a multi-million-dollar scheme, a senior White House official said.

Watson, whose media company start-up falsely claimed to have deals with Google
and Oprah Winfrey, planned to surrender Friday afternoon to the Federal Correctional Institution in Lompoc, California, before receiving word of Trump’s clemency, a source familiar with the situation said.

Trump also commuted the sentence of one year of probation imposed on Ozy Media for the defunct news and entertainment company’s conviction in the same case.

The president’s action removes the criminal penalty imposed on Watson, 55, and Ozy, which include a judge’s order in February holding them jointly responsible for paying almost $60 million in forfeiture and more than $36 million in restitution.

Watson was convicted at trial in Brooklyn federal court last July of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft.

The former Ozy CEO was sentenced in December to a nearly 10-year stint in prison.

I'd been following this case because a friend of mine worked for Ozy from the beginning, and saw exactly what a con it all was. He wrote in his newsletter:

For my part? It’s become pretty clear to me that whatever price had to be paid to Trump, transactional as he is, was probably worth it to Watson since paying off your debt with ass, grass or cash means very different things outside of prison than it does inside.

Also, the morning line opens with Watson a clear fav to reoffend, with the over/under putting us at before 2025 is done. So is it true that the House Negro gets in the end? Only time will tell. Until then realize this: crime is no longer illegal in America…so have at it y’all!!!

And tell them Donnie sent you!

curious if Ben Smith will have anything to say in tonight's Semafor newsletter

Wisconsin AG appeals to state’s high court to stop Musk from paying voters
Elon Musk is set to visit Wisconsin on Sunday evening to give away two $1 million prizes ahead of a high-stakes election for a seat on the state Supreme Court.

What’s really interesting is that Trump, while he and his fans are thinking he is saving capitalism from communists like Chuck Schumer, is taking aim at the underpinnings of capitalism that allow it to function. For capitalism to flourish, one would think there would need to be an element of “predictability” (as business people constantly told us the Republicans were good at); adherence to contracts, or punishment for breaking one in bad faith; and consequences for fraud. Otherwise why would one business enter into a contract with another, etc. why would you invest if fraud is rampant and unpunished?

I’m agreeing with those who say Trump wants to run the country like a mafia protection racket. Some of
The smarter alleged “hard-headed capitalists” probably realize this already and just figure that they’ll do fine still do fine need a personalist regime where no rules apply other than loyalty to the king.

Wolf Hall is a pretty adept demonstration of this dynamic— the capitalist world struggling being born while butting up against arbitrary rule by a murder-obsessed misogynist lunatic.

Of the many suggestions put forward for the upcoming April thread title, I'm throwing my meager weight behind "I hate all this shit so much" as the only correct descriptor of where US politics have arrived.

"We cannot just ignore the President's desires" for April thread title

Thanks for sharing that piece, Tables.

“I hate this shit so much” as all future thread titles.

So Musk went ahead and gave out his monetary prizes to voters in Wisconsin...

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/musk-gives-away-two-1-million-checks-wisconsin-voters-high-profile-judicial-race-2025-03-31/

I don't usually read Bret Stephens but this was hilarious but also such bullshit

Bret: I don’t expect any plausible Democratic Party to adopt my politics. But I’d love Democrats to be able to actually win an election against the next Trumpian nominee, whether it’s Vance or someone else. And that’s not going to happen unless Democrats understand their past mistakes, as a terrific Times editorial on the weekend made clear. Democrats blundered badly on immigration and urban disorder, veered too far left on cultural issues, got too comfortable divvying up the country into an alphabet soup of various victim groups, and all but colluded in denying Joe Biden’s manifest decline. I’d also love to see Democrats propose policies that help working-class people even if they upset powerful Democratic interest groups, like vouchers that allow parents to opt out of failing public schools or an end to all the licensing requirements for professions like hair stylists.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/31/opinion/nothing-ever-goes-wrong-in-trumps-white-house.html

"I'd love to see Dems propose policies that Republicans really want like school vouchers instead of fully funding schools, also I can't believe states regulate hair stylists"

Also man there's not going to be anyone close to Trumpian any time soon in the Republican party and they're already floating running Trump again, or he was over the weekend, saying Vance could run and then make Trump his VP and then switch or some shit. I can't believe I get this but this loser does not

I truly don’t understand law but wouldn’t that violate the 12th amendment?

this is another thing people are going to act like he is joking about and not really going to pursue until Suban Collins expresses her deep concerns and then we have Donald entering his third term.

Trump administration gives zero shits about constitution and any amendment except the second. xp

I truly don’t understand law but wouldn’t that violate the 12th amendment?

It depends whether laws get enforced anymore, which generally they should.

Like, for everyone, not just upon the poor and the vulnerable.

One of the two people who "won" a check from Musk was the new chairman of the Federation of College Republicans at the University of Wisconsin. Just in case you were wondering if any aspect of this wasn't total rube-running bullshit.

The Trump admin has filed a number of emergency requests to the US Supreme Court that will be ruled upon soon

https://www.stevevladeck.com/p/135-the-trump-reckoning-reaches-the?utm_medium=email

excited to find out exactly how much of an autocracy we are allowed to be!

my guess is that they rule against the alien enemies act and uphold birthright citizenship, but say the president can do whatever he wants with the executive branch administration

i am prepared for the worst, tho

One for you, one for us

excited to find out exactly how much of an autocracy we are allowed to be!

― gestures broadly at...everything (voodoo chili)

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

so is he!

thank you again john roberts, i won’t forget!!

The only thing I like about the 'Trump was right about everything' red cap is that it opens up the prospect of them trying to fit longer and longer sentences onto them.

"When The Trump Hits..."

Musk should take Trump's genius-level advice and drink the bleach.

For a complete idiot, Trump is the beneficiary of a rather long game.

Let's say you're a fictional villain and the only thing standing between you and unchecked power is a panel of judges.

Wouldn't it be convenient if you were able to dictate the composition of the panel beforehand?

Why yes it would.

But that would take decades, you say. And involve concerted effort on multiple fronts, plus unbelievably good timing and luck, you say. Plus unforced errors on the part of those arrayed against you.

Unfortunately you yourself are an incompetent, stupid, and lazy clown. I guess you wpuld just have to lean hard on luck.

In a totally surprising development that no one could possibly have seen coming, Kyrsten Sinema showed up at the White House today.

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:t46sqvutibvsmjgwn6r6izve/bafkreifmfmgd7hzaic4quahqdsachldj7wgwd4glxllmzmqjle6byzzmv4@jpeg

And some issues are still at or back at the district court level-

JUST IN: Judge Boasberg sets a Thursday hearing on his efforts to determine whether the Justice Department violated his orders restraining removals under the Alien Enemies Act

Is her thumb stuck like that?

But meanwhile per NY Times-

The Trump administration on Sunday sent a fourth plane carrying deportees to El Salvador, claiming it was acting under a different authority than the obscure wartime law that it cited previously, prompting a federal judge to block the transfers.

Administration officials said all 17 men, whom they described as gang members, had been deported under regular U.S. immigration law and had final orders of removal. But the administration described the action in similar military terms as the earlier transfers, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Joe Kasper, the Pentagon’s chief of staff, both calling the deportations ”counterterrorism” operations.

But meanwhile per NY Times-

The Trump administration on Sunday sent a fourth plane carrying deportees to El Salvador, claiming it was acting under a different authority than the obscure wartime law that it cited previously, prompting a federal judge to block the transfers.

Administration officials said all 17 men, whom they described as gang members, had been deported under regular U.S. immigration law and had final orders of removal. But the administration described the action in similar military terms as the earlier transfers, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Joe Kasper, the Pentagon’s chief of staff, both calling the deportations ”counterterrorism” operations.

yo fuck this nonsense up, down, and sideways

https://www.wired.com/story/doge-takes-control-usip-office-building/

DOGE Is Trying to Gift Itself a $500 Million Building, Court Filings Show
The documents reveal a DOGE affiliate is attempting to transfer the headquarters of an independent think tank, the United States Institute of Peace, to the government at no cost.

https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/watch/sen-cory-booker-filibusters-on-senate-floor-to-disrupt-the-senate-because-our-nation-is-in-crisis-235914309998

Well he’s a few weeks late there

better to try something than to give up:

‪Joe Katz is sharing peace plans in the signal chat‬ ✧@joekat✧✧✧.b✧✧✧.soc✧✧✧‬
·
1h
I'm seeing a lot of cynical reactions to this move from Cory Booker. And I get it!! But performative opposition is a necessary part of effective opposition from the minority. Not sufficient, but necessary. And our electeds need to know we notice when they do well and not just when they do poorly.

You know how staid and ossified the Senate is when Cory Booker is your big rabble-rouser.

Yeah it’s fine, good even. But still like, late.

‪Robert Evans (the Only Robert Evans)‬ ✧@iwrit✧✧✧.b✧✧✧.soc✧✧✧‬
·
14m
i believe it should count as a filibuster if instead of standing and speaking you fuck the entire time without climaxing or taking your eyes off the rest of Congress

um, uh, that was... edifying

Don't give Ted Cruz any ideas.

Filibuster still on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2utlMxAwtE

Several other Senators have joined the chat

it's not really a filibuster if he's not blocking anything.

It‘s a vigil, he said as much.

Do we have an April thread yet

in the year 3403 AD, crime is legal and cops are illegal: it's the APRIL 2025 US POLITICS THREAD