"You know, we have a life and grass has a life and the grass here died about 40 years ago. " American Politics, August 2026

from:https://www.democrats.senate.gov/newsroom/trump-transcripts/transcript-president-trump-visits-park-police-officers-in-washington-82125

If only he would stay on the grass level, as a nature lover or parks and rec officer, also a golfer, a napper, and not think too much about, you know, anything but grass, or anything.

ONLY 30 MONTHS TO GO ON THE DONALD TRUMP CONTRACT

So they dropped the charges against that Olympic canoeist for “vandalizing” the reflecting pool and admitted it was a botched installation. Which of course the entire world already knew.

I bet that Olympics canoeist already accumulated lots of legal fees . But can he sue the government and get them back? I hope so.

More no-bid Trump contracts mentioned by New York Times

Trump’s Fixation on Arctic Ships Led to Billions in No-Bid Contracts
The president decided to buy 11 polar icebreakers after a game of golf with Finland’s president. Experts say it’s far from clear the United States needs so many.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the canoeist had plenty of pro-bono offers. anyway he has a great case for malicious prosecution.

To preserve the endless golden chain of US political fuckery, a link to the July thread:

The Saddest of Ferris Wheels - American Politics, July 2026

The canoeist should file a claim with the DOJ “weaponization fund”

I find it all so depressing and defeating - like, even if the Dems win the midterms and defeat Trump (whether or not he's running) in 28 and even expand the courts and get statehood for DC and PR, it feels like if they don't put every single one of these motherfuckers in jail and make them pay for their abundant crimes, they'll just get back in.

The way I avoid depression and defeatism is to get my jollies one step at a time.

i get my kicks above the waistline, sunshine

Poor you!

brb going back to my bars, temples, and massage parlours

This morning, Trump reportedly "lashing out" (getting his jollies?) at DOJ for dropping pool charges.

Repeated his lies again about vandals and disagreed with announced findings on Truth Social.

https://apple.news/Afyl5C8yZRM-ANJneve-_rA

was wondering when he was going to pipe up about this

it would be great if someone called him on his lies directly but I don't expect it to happen because it never does and is pointless

The media may not call him on his lies, but maybe this amounts to voters calling him on his bullshit:

A poll released by Quinnipiac University on July 29 showed Trump's approval rating at 32%, while 58% of respondents said they disapproved of the president's job performance. According to the pollster, Trump’s performance in the poll is the worst recorded in either of his terms in the White House.

Only a day after Quinnipiac’s poll, an AP-NORC poll showed similar numbers, as only 33% of respondents approved of Trump’s performance

Also worth noting that the percentage of people who will affirmatively identify themselves as Republicans to a pollster is down to 25%.

Don’t ask me why or how, but I read that entire transcript in dow’s original post, with Trump doing his patented “weave” i.e. spewing whatever flits into his addled brain. Many choice moments, but I actually lolled at this one:

And Pam, thank you very much. What a job. She's -- people don't realize -- they're going to see, she'll go down as the greatest attorney general we've had. I really mean it too. And where's my Kristi? You're there. Thank you very much. She's been incredible and she can ride a horse like nobody. She gets on those horses. She rips those horses around. But I want to thank you very much.

Secretary of Interior Burgum feuding with prosecutor Pirro online today, as Burgum decides to echo Trump and insist it was still vandals at reflecting pool. They're all crazy cult members

apparently Trump is now selling early access to his Truth Social posts, just the most breathtakingly corrupt shit I've ever seen in this country

Slobbering on Trump is their main job description. Insufficient slobber leads to leaving your cushy government job to fill "a very important job in the private sector" that Trump made up out of thin air.

https://www.npr.org/2026/08/01/nx-s1-5912219/trump-truth-social-access-insider-trading

wow. yeah. i mean, every step deeper into this is the frog slowly boiling, the straw that broke the camel’s back, etc

but lol, yeah, it’s like sign up for a service where you can figure out if trump is going to escalate or de-escalate the iran war he started, strait of hormuz insider trading tips, etc.

Trump's media company says customers have already started signing up. Such an offering would give institutional investors a leg up in areas of finance like high-frequency trading, where an advantage of a few milliseconds can mean the difference of millions of dollars. But will the service be widely adopted across Wall Street?

"It's insane," said one Wall Street executive, who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation from the Trump administration. "I can say for myself and 200 of my friends in finance, we're not getting anywhere near this. In another administration, this would be considered criminal.”

you gotta love the moment when the wall street executive delivers the hard truths

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:nkatjcr76lx7vwrpvx2bp5jb/bafkreicbgwgt5fyymk3wguaafd6qfqb4ttnsiswva7egjg37xhhfqrypnq

Faces New Scrutiny

Increasingly scrutinated

Scrutum

The wrinkled old retainer

Still, even in its new form, Mr. Blanche’s order for the I.R.S. to abandon any audits of Mr. Trump’s previous tax returns is an unprecedented and potentially illegal benefit to a sitting president, worth potentially tens of millions of dollars in lower taxes and avoided penalties

From NY Times re how 2 “holdout “ Republicans are likely now to make Blanche attorney general despite above, because he has supposedly dropped other item that would set up slush fund for J6 ers

lol as soon as he is confirmed he's going to do all the shit he said he wouldn't do

why would Biden let him do that?

Can't spell "slush fund" without "lush fun."

Hey, Biden tried to provide guidance by nominating a worthless, do-nothing AG.

how is Hong's anti-Thanksgiving platform hitting in the wisconsin heartland?

Democratic socialist and former Wisconsin state Rep. Francesca Hong (D) on Monday defended a past social media post urging the country to “cancel Thanksgiving” further leaning into her progressive agenda that’s gained traction for her Wisconsin gubernatorial campaign.

Anchor Kaitlan Collins asked if Hong still stood by her now-deleted post on X from 2021.

“Cancel Thanksgiving. Should have done this in 1621,” Hong previously wrote on the social platform.

“If it takes a worldwide pandemic for us to realize we should stop celebrating colonialism and the original superspreader event that killed indigenous folx and women, so be it,” the post continued.

I can't imagine that interview with Collins hit all that well for her. And she and the other DSA candidates should stop going on Fox News, they just seem like sitting ducks for mockery.

I really like Hong, but she and others need to stop with the intersectional gibberish language. Most people don't get it. It feels to me like they're talking over most people's heads. Why?

I really like Hong, but she and others need to stop with the intersectional gibberish language. Most people don't get it. It feels to me like they're talking over most people's heads. Why?

Seems to me (and this is why I'm not a politician) it shouldn't be that hard to start your answer to "Do you still want to outlaw Thanksgiving?" with "You realize not everyone in the world is white and Christian, right?"

looking good for el-sayed

intersectional gibberish language

and i think centrists should stfu and sit down.

policing normal language utilized by plenty of non-college educated, non-white people is textbook liberal racism.

but you know some posters here wouldn't know that because they're white and live in mostly white places and never actually interact with non-white people. trust me: everyone knows what colonialism is except dumb fucking honkies, and catering to them doesn't fucking work anyway.

cori bush lost

lol

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:flfa7b6kgjqp3bbh223tmpjk/bafkreic74pubquklzbwxbzu4l5jyi64gmlcxeh7zcmoz2hlp3ynmmouzcu

Democrats
Projected winner
ABDUL EL-SAYED WINS THE MICHIGAN PRIMARY

now win! there should be law about spending in these matters. now win. i’m so glad he took it. now change the law when it is unfair— or in this case fucking obscene. do we know who forces that? we do. not politicians

if we settle only for better justice for gaza by defunding anything (and that itself is still far away), the necessary steps will be worse than incomplete. it will invite only more injustice for both issues.

one can say “oh it’s scotus who controls much of this matter.” yes it is. my opinion remains.

Meanwhile

Political Polls
@PpollingNumbers

Results - Thomas Smith — the guy who suspended his campaign last month — just defeated Trump-endorsed Amir Hassan in the MI-08 GOP primary.

this might be a bunch of hot air but still doesn't bode well

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told faith leaders he is planning to roll back abortion access even in states that have laws protecting it.

On a private call last week hosted by the White House Faith Office, Blanche told the religious group Intercessors for America that moves to undo the Biden administration’s efforts to protect abortion are “taking longer than we want.”

But Blanche assured them that the Justice Department (DOJ) is “working hand-in-hand” with federal health agencies, the White House and President Trump’s team “to get permanent solutions so the Dobbs decision becomes permanent in every single state.”

important gop adorability discourse

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:hw6pij3rglmi4eescerb2pn5/bafkreib4f5abje5h4q2hensxspggctafpelzluv4xv462khcowegjzhf3y

https://bsky.app/profile/tylerhuckabee.bsky.social/post/3msdrvtms3k2b

regarding the Blanche nomination it appears Susan is concerned

President Donald Trump's nominee for attorney general, Todd Blanche, faced renewed uncertainty over his U.S. Senate confirmation on Wednesday after Republican Senator Susan Collins said on Tuesday she would vote against him, leaving the former Trump personal lawyer with little margin for error.

Like, it will drive you mad

randos who start podcasts and yammer on youtube.. literally why should I care what they say?

i don’t rly get this. why should anyone care what anyone says? well, i suppose people must have all sorts of reasons. is there some kind of list of television networks or magazines whose contributors you do feel you “should” “care” about? literally why? arlkjalsfjaldskfa

still think sometimes about when the harris campaign refused to accept a rogan interview because rogan wouldn’t agree to conduct it in DC while wearing a silicon replica of tim russert’s death mask, and this boardful of strategic geniuses was posting LOL WHO DOES HE THINK HE IS. personally i’m not too sure who joe rogan is either but i guess he was the guy whose show your political candidate wanted to go on? arlkjalsfjaldskfa

The difference between Hasan and Rogan is that Hasan actually shows up to do events with candidates and instructs his audience to phone back for them. Rogan just nods and agrees with whoever he’s talking to and then forgets what they said.

The only reason Piker is important is because people are desperate for a wedge issue that will help undermine Democrats' chances of winning big in November.

idk how desperate anyone needs to be; everyone knows what the wedge issue is

They know they are losing so they are scraping for anything no matter how trivial.

dlh, what is the wedge issue?

“should we keep doing the holocaust y/n”

I don’t watch any of the Sunday programs any more but for some crazy reason I look at which political items are trending on X and Bluesky on Sundays and what video clips Aaron Rupar posts .

The Piker thing is annoying because 3rd Way Dem lobbying group is spending $15 million against El Sayed, and of course AIPAC is as well

wedge issue is "do you disavow hasan piker?"

if you try to break it down to the issue level (ex.: "we shouldn't be unconditionally supporting Israel"), they'll bring up some random thing piker did or said in the past on a stream, usually clipped to the smallest, most objectionable, quote

if you disavow, they circle back to the starting point about how you don't really disavow him because he criticizes Israel//Jeffries/etc. and all you leftists are the same

would love to see this argument flipped around. do you support the USA blowing up schools with hundreds of children still inside? NO!?? so you hate Americans? you don't think they have the right to exist??? you think they should all DIE!??

"do you think they should DEI?"

The thing they are micro-focusing on is any insinuation that violence against Jewish people in America or other countries is a consequence of Israel's actions. This is what El Sayed apologized for (the post after the Synagogue attack that included "hurt people hurt people") and Piker saying that politicians equating criticism of Israel with criticism of Jews is putting Jewish Americans in danger.

It’s all down to the classic PICK A SIDE aspect of identity politics, wherein the most important aspect is that you can NEVER make anyone feel bad about a past position, because as everyone knows once you choose to cheer on a certain team or lend energy or resources to a cause you’re permanently affiliated forever, much like sports fans.

There’s never any nuance or room to maneuver or, god forbid, grow up - it’s just about fighting for the right to exist, because we all know not all of us can exist, that’s unaffordable in today’s economy.

New Jersey Rep. Josh Gottheimer and various other “centrist “ Dems are spending more time trying to link their negative takes on Piker to Dem senate candidate El Sayed than they are speaking out against Trump , and for Dem candidates who could help give Dems the majority in the House and Senate.

Well, we know what they're afraid of--Zionists being sorted out of the Democratic Party the way Southern racists were in 60s and 70s.

Sounds like a good idea. Ultimately Zionism is a religious extremist movement, makes sense to group them with the rest of the extremists in the extremist party

Zionism lends itself to straight up terrorism, afaic

huh... seems like a nice enough guy to me

“There’s something about Abdul El-Sayed that is very, very evil and on the rise in the United States of America today,” Vance said.

“It’s people who see themselves not as citizens of a combination, fighting for every single person, whether they’re Jewish or Christian, whether they’re white or Black or brown, but see themselves as fighting for one group at the expense of others,” he continued. “And that is how, ladies and gentlemen, you destroy the United States of America."

funny Abdul's entire message is that he is fighting so every single person can afford food and healthcare while your administration is gleefully tearing it out of people's hands

massive projection from vance there

the hyperbole of the rhetoric betrays the real fear these fuckers have that the country is maybe changing a little

Apparently he got big mad and told Rhodes Scholar and Ivy League PhD Abdul El-Sayed that Usha was out of his league.

He’s right, but not in the way he thinks he’s right.

And that is how, ladies and gentlemen, you destroy the United States of America."

September thread title

the hyperbole of the rhetoric betrays the real fear these fuckers have that the country is maybe changing a little

well there's also the fact that these people have mostly delivered the exact opposite of what they were selling in 2024 - the economy is tanking, they buried the Epstein stuff, we're in another Middle Eastern war for no reason at all, even the extreme immigration crackdown is something Americans are quickly souring on. they can't keep going with the "Biden ruined everything" line (though they'll try), nobody gives a shit about the Covid revivalism, they really got nothing but utterly insane bad faith shit like this

they're really doubling down on the 'communism' shit, and it's working... with *their* voters. People who would never vote for a democrat under any circumstances and still adore Trump

You gotta keep feeding the cult. As soon as you stop the house of cards begins to fall.

feels a bit difficult to do another Red Scare given everything that's been going on...like what are they gonna do? put armed, trigger-happy goons on the street? make everything more expensive? staff the entire government with weird pedophiles? enrich themselves at the taxpayers' expense? isolate us from every other country on the planet?

I don't think that Zionism is inherently evil, or that all Zionists are or ever have been evil. There have always been those were evil, either as instigators or who went along to get along, and got into it more as they did go along (thinking of interviews w IDF on the ground). But I've also seen/heard/read talked with Israelis who expressed socialist, anarcho-syndicalist (kibbutizm) etc. POV and were about peaceful co-existence, sane/pragmatic co-operation, although yes that gets fucked with by conscription, though Peace Now started in the army, I think.
Any country founded on immigration practices some displacement at best, and there's always a dark side to that, but I can't say my (non-Jewish, as far as I know) ancestors or anybody else's should have stayed in Europe; there just wouldn't have been room for that eventually---America could have been done better, still could, hopefully---or maybe not, maybe getting the slave states to go along was too much, maybe we should have stayed in the British Empire, let them end slavery, transition to the Commonwealth----maybe the Israelis should have followed the Brits a bit longer---but as is, maybe these are two tragedies, fucked at birth, America and Israel---but still I don't believe everybody who might be fairly described or call themselves Zionists (and this doesn't include all Israeli Jews), can be fairly considered evil. Otherwise, it seems like heading around the dial toward Vance et al.

easy to talk about socialism and anarchism when you are building your kibbutz on land that was illegally expropriated during an ethnic cleansing.

easy to say Zionism isn’t evil when you haven’t watched your people live under crushing apartheid only to be slaughtered so indiscriminately that children walk around holding their siblings’ body parts while settlers kill and intimidate other members of your ethnicity out of their homes, all while committing a vast ecocide by destroying centuries old olive groves

like seriously, get a fucking clue

the US has the twin original sins of native american genocide and transatlantic slavery. i think zionists imagine that their original sin will turn out like the former - a comprehensive demolition that now no longer even ruffles the waters - but that prospect seems remote at best

I think the analogy is very flawed but Native Americans do still have protected lands and tribal leadership, tribal police etc. etc... a kind of 'two-state' solution. (California just passed a new law requiring state agencies to get approval from tribes regarding state properties that are of cultural or religious significance)

Things seem to be going in the opposite direction for Palestinians

Yeah, well, America is a big enough place that you explode nuclear bombs in the middle of it and hardly anyone notices.

And that is how, ladies and gentlemen, you destroy the United States of America."

September thread title

Gets my vote too.

jfc this is what our top military guy is doing. this country is so fucked

https://bsky.app/profile/cmewing.bsky.social/post/3mugdfu7w6s24

And while he's doing that, Army Secretary (and MAGA chud and Vance ally) Dan Driscoll has resigned, apparently out of frustration over the conduct of the Iran war. Rumor is that Hegseth's spokesman Sean Parnell wants the job. Whee.

this whole thing feels like its gonna turn real ugly soon, we are lighting massive amounts of tax dollars on fire and no one can explain why, morale is so bad that soldiers are trying to kill themselves, we just started a trade war with our biggest oil exporter for no reason and the people in charge have no fucking clue what they're doing and are actively getting stupider, which is an incredible feat given they started this war not even knowing what the Strait of Hormuz was

many many xps

El-Sayed saying after the Synagogue attack that "hurt people hurt people" was completely tone-deaf and he needed to apologize for that. I want him to win, but he seems so blustery most of the time and he is a total shit-talker and has an extreme case of main character syndrome. That kind of personality is nails-on-a-chalkboard to me

And President Keyes, Piker didn’t just say that “politicians equating criticism of Israel with criticism of Jews is putting Jewish Americans in danger”.

He said that Jews who tie their identity to Israel can expect violence. It is stated in very reasonable terms but to me seems deeply antisemitic

I guess I'm going to be banished to hell for that post, but I don't care, it's what I think

thought it was strongly implied in the statement that he was referring directly to those tying their identity to a specific thing Israel is doing, but maybe I'm reading it wrong

I think the analogy is very flawed but Native Americans do still have protected lands and tribal leadership, tribal police etc. etc... a kind of 'two-state' solution. (California just passed a new law requiring state agencies to get approval from tribes regarding state properties that are of cultural or religious significance)

Things seem to be going in the opposite direction for Palestinians

― Andy the Grasshopper

I’m reading Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee right now and that analogy is all I can think of. I’m sure it was unintentional but the genocide of the native population was just as cruel and evil if not 100x worse

Unintentional = dismissing the analogy

Right after I posted, I realized it could come across as tone-deaf, and I'm in no way dismissing or diminishing the horrific genocide that happened over the last 400 years in North America.. the place of my birth in Northern California was the site of a really terrible massacre of native women & children in the 19th Century, and I know that I'm still a settler/colonist despite the years

But in the current era, little by little, things *seem* to be improving.. the Klamath River dam removals, the release of Leonard Peltier, small victories here and there over tribal sovereignty and land use, improvements in health, and of course finally recognizing the horrors of residential schools. It's a small start, but it's something. There's still a lot of battles ahead, but I'm glad to see progress. Yet I don't see anything like progress in Israel, it just gets worse and worse.. I guess that's my point, however clumsy

>> El-Sayed saying after the Synagogue attack that "hurt people hurt people" was completely tone-deaf and he needed to apologize for that.

He has already apologized, and more importantly, admitted that he fucked up. I watched a video of him on the Breakfast Club radio show; it's a 90 minute interview but he talks about a lot of things, including that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRB0_JP9T3I

xposts Here’s what Piker said, so people can make up their own minds if it’s anti-semitic:

Piker argued the "connection between Israel and Zionism that is expressed over and over again through a lot of these Jewish institutions is teaching people the idea that Jews are monolithic" — which he called a "very dangerous mode of propaganda."

"And you want to know why? Because people don't f*** with Israel any longer," Piker said. "And if Jews in America keep putting this idea out there that they are singularly invested in Israel, eventually someone's going to come around and take action, not against the state of Israel, mind you, but against American Jews."

Several minutes later, Piker added: "You're running around, basically tying your entire identity to a country that inevitably will be seen as basically Jewish ISIS, and you're saying, as Jews, this is all we care about. You're making antisemitism worse."

Wouldn’t be the way I would say it but that is basically quite similar to a main argument from anti-Zionist Jews— that Israel’s behavior and tying Jewish identity to Israel endangers Jews around the world.

Mods...?

"And that is how, ladies and gentlemen, you destroy the United States of America." U.S. Politics Thread, September 2026