"totally again obliterated": American Politics March 2026

Only gives you this much w/o signing up for free sub, but it's prob the gist:

President Trump told Axios on Saturday that he has several "off ramps" from Operation Epic Fury, the extraordinary U.S. military campaign against Iran that he launched early Saturday morning.

What they're saying: "I can go long and take over the whole thing, or end it in two or three days and tell the Iranians: 'See you again in a few years if you start rebuilding [your nuclear and missile programs]," Trump said in a five-minute phone interview from Mar-a-Lago.

I think you mean Operation Epic Furry

The perfect thread title

Change it if you like, no prob.

no I think Raymond meant yours!

(I was just riffing/joking)

Well yours is good too, wouldn't mind a t-shirt of it.

and you'll do just what you choose to do

So because there's yet another 'bombshell' story about Graham Platner (he gave an interview to a former Green Beret who's now a podcaster who promotes anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, though Platner himself apparently — I haven't listened — did not engage in such discussions during the interview), there's a new wave of "Don't vote for Graham Platner!" talk on Bluesky. But at the same time, he maintains something like a 20-point lead over Janet Mills, and all the other Democratic candidates (there are five others) are polling in single digits, I think.

The primary is on June 9. Shouldn't the anti-Platner folks (and the anti-Mills folks) be coalescing around an alternate candidate by now?

yes, but to tipsy's point recently on some other thread, someone also has to step up and announce they are running

Like I said, five other people have already announced: Natasha Alcala, David Costello, David Evans, Tucker Favreau and Andrea LaFlamme. I don't know anything about any of them.

https://mainemorningstar.com/race-details/2026-us-senate/

I don’t see anyone but Platner is going to be the nominee.

How

Me either. And given the general national mood of rage, I think he's got a good shot at winning. Most voters are anti-thug, but only because they don't have thugs of their own. Platner could go really far (has already gone really far) on a "but he's our bastard" vibe.

Since I don’t live in Maine and don’t have to worry about voting in the primary, I mostly just hope somebody who is not Susan Collins is the next Senator.

Tucker Favreau, the cursed Brundlefly of Tucker Carlson and Jon Favreau.

Director or podcaster, take your pick

ha, was just about to post about more awful Platner news.

Inside Politics showed Mills ads showing Collins being "concerned" about Trump, rather than courageous.

i will never ever ever vote for Platner

because i live in Virginia

The Mills ad was decent. But it's typical DC bullshit - "Ooh, look what a hypocrite my opponent is" - and it's utterly unsuited to the current moment. She seems to have been a good governor, certainly better than the piece of shit she replaced. But as a senator, she'd likely be a Chuck Schumer/Dick Durbin/Tim Kaine-style blob of jello.

She couldn’t possibly be more useless than Collins, neither of them could. In absolute terms neither she nor Platner are likely to be great, but the point is their Value Above Collins will be > 0.

yeah just removing a republican is good

She couldn’t possibly be more useless than Collins, neither of them could. In absolute terms neither she nor Platner are likely to be great, but the point is their Value Above Collins will be > 0.

Oh, absolutely. There is no circumstance in which Collins retaining her seat is a good thing. I'm just saying Mills is distinctly uninspiring — Dukakis-esque, if you will — while Platner is inspiring in ways that say very bad things about the political environment and the state of the country. A guy like him should not be doing well. That he is should frighten a lot of people, not just mainstream Democratic political consultants who see their gigs drying up if the party goes that way.

interesting his biggest boosters are the ultimate mainstream dem podcasters

wait im developing a theory everyones thinking hes going to pull a fetterman but what if hes really an undercover obama centrist

people on bluesky theorizing that hes maybe just very stupid

xxxp But she would vote reliably for the democrats and I'm not sure Platner would, based on his past. He has a sketchy history and a Fetterman vibe.

But I would be happy with either of them over Collins. I think Collins will win again, as she always does, however

The mainstream podcaster boosters of which you speak are the Pod Save America guys, who are just the worst imo

this is the guys show who he went on

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:y2llcscocbfrj3qnzvsjemdw/bafkreiezmxmv24pptkxi7p6fjkos3jt3ag6jqnb2qug7cl4tbxudg3eezm@jpeg

lmaoooooo

the new head of the Kennedy Center

Apparently, Trump had potential candidates to lead Iran in mind, but... they've been killed. Whoops!

people on bluesky theorizing that hes maybe just very stupid

he's been too consistently bad on one particular area for entirely too long, I don't think he's stupid other than that he appears to be too stupid to understand why this stuff is controversial.

feel like he might be stupid and into nazi stuff

why would he care if the war leads to stability or not? those are human welfare concerns, he doesn’t gaf, never has. what is the investment opportunity, for him and his friends? the same ones that looked the other way about epstein, people who are ethically neutral when it means opportunity for themselves. they will get rich off this war. they don’t care

ie, trump’s plans to turn gaza into a casino resort, etc

Oh good

"A gunman wearing clothes with an Iranian flag design and the words “Property of Allah” killed two people and wounded 14 early Sunday at a Texas bar, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. The FBI is investigating the shooting, which erupted a day after the U.S. and Israel launched an attack on Iran, as a potential act of terrorism."

https://apnews.com/article/austin-texas-bar-shooting-7690f931ba00f950c1828cef25399bb6

he's been too consistently bad on one particular area for entirely too long, I don't think he's stupid other than that he appears to be too stupid to understand why this stuff is controversial.

Possible theory: He's got pissed-off-vet brainworms, exacerbated by the internet, and the question is, are there more people in Maine with pissed-off-vet brainworms exacerbated by the internet, or more people who find that to be a political dealbreaker?

While you watched Iran, Oracle took over Medicare:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TlYoVsW5ko

feel like he might be stupid and into nazi stuff

Feel like he might be stupid, into nazi stuff, and an ex-Blackwater employee

Congo is fighting Rwanda to regain control over the Rubaya coltan mine (where a collapse killed 200 last month) because the US has been promised access to the stuff.

https://allafrica.com/stories/202602240552.html

we shot down 3 of our own jets

thats an oops

I thought Kuwait shot them down by accident? Either way.

or iran shot them down who knows really

The jets committed suicide.

the jets took a nap

I guess kuwait shot them down but kuwait is on 'our side'

Yeah does appear to be "friendly fire"

well at least the US sold Kuwait the equipment lmao

And sure rnough:

Videos have emerged of ICE agents in plain clothes violently detaining a woman on Sunday inside San Francisco International Airport in front of her daughter. The woman, who is from Guatemala, is seen crying as agents pin her down before dragging and restraining her in a wheelchair. Her daughter was also reportedly in custody as the ICE agents were enforcing a removal order. Bystanders are heard asking the agents to identify themselves, with the officers refusing to say their names or show their badges.

sure *enough*(there's a typo damm)

It is terrible but fwiw I don't think that was part of the ICE airport surge, I think they came after her specifically. They have been arresting people in airports for a while now.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/federal-officers-detain-woman-san-francisco-international-airport-rcna264799

Yeah but I expect to see it more often (and yeah, T is doing/maybe has done away with "asylum" for anybody but the whackos he doesn't like).

Grain of salt with margins of error, but Reuters has Trump down 4 points in a week, to a new low of 36 percent approval.

I think Enten is right about that FL district. it's a big deal. even Trump, who still thinks he won Minnesota 3 times, is saying shit like 'I can't beliveve the polls are tied!'.

here's a poll saying 29% (!!) approve of Trump's handling of the economy. this was his signature issue. he had 53% at one point! he never cracks 50% in anything!

https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:ihpglfqq3dapqjmwl2ntktil/post/3mhtqt7ui222z?ref_src=embed

he's also apparently underwater with men, so making it harder for women to vote prob won't help him much either

it would be good if he was underwater

I know there are more serious things to worry about, but...why is the secretary of education making Throwback Thursday style posts comemmorating the release of the Playstation Portable as "the day everything changed"?

there’s a secretary of education?

would much rather she send playstation posts versus sending Dear Colleague letters asking colleges to dismantle DEI

Well yeah, it's just very random.

lol

https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3mhvbzqybdd2h

"I am aware there are people across this country with differing views."

even the psp shout-out is disinformation. it was when the game boy came out that everything changed. when the psp came out it was the day everyone was like "that's too expensive"

i was there and i have eyes to see it: i will not let the secretary of education re-write portable gaming history

#only2026things

Yes it is absolutely Game Boy erasure. She doesn't sound like she knows what any of these things are, yet it is also pushing credulity to think she'd be doing this for cash since Sony is, erhm, not really pushing the PSP. It's just baffling but in a less disgusting way than what they're usually up to.

this is the same Secretary of Education who said "A1" when referring to AI

Generative steak sauce

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:4llrhdclvdlmmynkwsmg5tdc/bafkreiguhou7gqhhnfumb3vnrbo23qhc5fxzksfqdhzs6ey3723aw6idce

"Larger, and harder, muscles than most" for April thread title

there's the compulsive fabulist we all love so much, at it again I see

Saw photos on Bluesky of ICE agents actually checking IDs at O'Hare, while TSA agents stand around doing nothing. Cool cool.

rehabbing a fake image

don loves his muscle men

"welcome home to you and your family to America, the best country in the world, sir"

*tears stack of passports in half*

cleaning up and carrying bags is a great idea for them, contribute to society help out, its like that seinfeld bit about cops nothing to do grab a broom

About those large hard muscles, sir.

https://i.ibb.co/0yy7Zvgt/ICE-patrol.jpg

FUCK THE EMO ICE

this is the worst season of Stranger Things yet

lol

am I about to see Tobey Maguire in Spider Man III

This is a silly question, but has anyone seen a female ICE agent?

of course trump says he's proud of ice for helping out at airports, this is a first high school job for many of these agents

This is a silly question, but has anyone seen a female ICE agent?

yes, eating ICE dinner after doing some ICE math

if there's a next president they should make a compromise by continuing to fund ice but only funding them for $400 and stationing them all in antarctica, guarding the doors from the outside

Touché

James Talarico, the Texas Democratic state representative and Presbyterian seminarian, has said he forgives Pete Hegseth’s pastor for praying for his death. On Tuesday, Texas’s popular Democratic nominee for a US Senate seat pushed back against comments from Brooks Potteiger, the defense secretary’s closest spiritual adviser, who said: “We want him crucified with Christ.”

Talarico said on X: “Jesus loves. Christian Nationalism kills. You may pray for my death, Pastor, but I still love you. I love you more than you could ever hate me.”

...."we want him crucified with christ"...?

is that referring to the thieves (probably wrongfully accused by assholes) who were crucified with christ?

or do they want to crucify christ (and talarico) again?

crucify white evangelicals with christ

more deets

Brook Potteiger, a Tennessee evangelical pastor, made the remarks during the "Reformation Red Pill" podcast. The show is hosted by Joshua Haymes, a former intern at Potteiger’s church, according to Huffpost.

During the podcast, Talarico was derided by the pair and described as a "demon," "wolf" and "enemy of God."

"I pray that God kills him," Haymes said. "Ultimately, that means killing his heart and raising him up to new life in Christ."

"We want him crucified with Christ," Potteiger added.

Haymes went on to say that if it is not God’s will to change Talarico's heart, then he should be stopped "by any means necessary, oh God."

try this one simple trick to make your hateful violent fantasies sound like they're what Christ would approve

A lot of people forget that Jesus was a demon and an enemy of God until Pontius Pilate purified him using a process called crucifixion, which unfortunately made him die

We want God to kill his heart, but if he has other plans we will take care of it.

https://truthout.org/articles/farmers-describe-torture-from-us-ecuadorian-joint-military-operation/

thank god the US is doing imperialism in South America and not China or I might be concerned about Ecuadorians' human rights

i think i typed this and deleted it the other day, because i got sidetracked on what the "mainstream media" was in the first place in 2026. but, assuming it still exists, does "mainstream media" cover the murders in the caribbean/pacific? now that it's up to about 49 attacks, 150 deaths (as of the other day), i was just wondering if it's getting more traction with more deaths or less traction (because of fatigue about covering the same story with no resolution)?

I see little mentions here & there, but the reports are remarkably vague and of course offer no evidence that the boats carried narcotics

I think less due to the repetitiveness of the news. I just did a search of CNN headlines and they're all nearly identical

i'm not sure what mainstream media is either, does it mean like the evening news?

“Legacy media” might be a more useful term.

e.g. NYT / WP / ABC / CBS / NBC / CNN / NPR / PBS

And BBC and Fox News, of a sort

so the shit old people watch and read

how old is "old"?

A few websites have enough access to be considered mainstream-- Politico, Axios, The Hill