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

Good morning!

Never look back. You can never look back. Except, uh, here's a link to August's thread:

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

i just went to the US Mint website to see if this Trump $1 coin was actually real and the site went to this:

United States Mint Logo

Thank you for your patience.

Due to extraordinary high traffic, we are using a virtual waiting room.
Your estimated wait time is 5 minutes

To keep your place in line do not leave this page or refresh your browser.
When it is your turn, you will automatically be let into the website and have 10 minutes to complete your purchase
Product availability is not guaranteed.

This page will automatically refresh. | Last updated 11:17:39 AM

please tell me there is a legion of Trumpers treating this like a Taylor Swift Ticketmaster episode

I tried to get and my wait time started at 1 minute, but is now up to 7 minutes.

Website? Slackers.

I've been camped out in a lawn chair in front of the Bureau of Printing and Engraving since 4 AM.

i’m being paid to stand in line for it and when they give me my trump coin I’m supposed to jump up and down and kiss it and cry and say “thank yew mister trump”

The scamminess is to be expected, and yet I still retain the capacity for amusement:

The U.S. Mint will begin selling gold-colored $1 coins featuring President Donald Trump’s likeness at noon ET on Wednesday, with prices ranging from about $1.55 to $2.44 per coin.

...

The price of the coin depends on quantity. A 25-coin roll costs $61, while a 100-coin bag costs $154.50.

Get one and super glue it in your favorite urinal for fun

how much of a cut is the big man getting

"gold-colored"

sorry what? they are selling $1 coins for more than $1? not only is that certainly illegal it also brings into question if these things will even be considered legal tender

trump's 'cut' is strengthening his brand, reinforcing his Q-score, and giving his cult followers a fetish object, all at zero cost to him.

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:4llrhdclvdlmmynkwsmg5tdc/bafkreigfvdmfp3amalqptdcoj5ldmprelusz7axwh75icdpeqmzqyq53vi

The Mint sells a lot of collectible coins at more than face value, I just don't think they've ever done it for a sitting president.

https://www.usmint.gov/learn/coins-and-medals/collectible-coins

I have a box for $2 bills and Susan B Anthony dollar coins, but I won't let it be sullied with one of these

what, no Sacagawea $1 coins?

I have a friend who collected Sacagaweas when they were available. He has a bunch and will occasionally return one to circulation, partly because he likes arguing with cashiers about whether it's legal tender.

Yeah, I do have a couple Sacagaweas in that box

In 1866, Congress passed an amendment barring the “portrait or likeness” of living people from appearing on currency.

ah, but herein lies the rub

They passed an amendment which ruled that US money can only feature dead individuals – but it only applied to paper money.

“For me, I would consider it illegal,” Gabriel Mathy, an associate professor of economics at American University who has studied American currency, said of the Trump coin.

“But the United States has all these laws, which really are norms because they’re not really enforceable.”

I feel like one very low-hanging (but still worthwhile) piece of fruit for Democrats is to introduce a bill absolutely prohibiting the naming or likeness of any sitting president on federal property, currency, etc. Should be a slam-dunk to get it passed if we ever get another Democratic president, all they'd have to do is say "Pass this, or we're renaming every federal courthouse in Alabama."

Bad news NO laws are really enforceable if there is no legal authority who will enforce them wtf der

the state of Barack HUSSEIN Obama (formerly Florida)

🖼

so lazy, stop phoning it in big guy

Trump Straits vs. Trump Steaks-- which give you more gas?

How has nobody made a dire straits joke yet? (I guess probably they have.)

"That little-handed MAGAit with the spray-tan and makeup
Yeah buddy, that's his own hair
Travels with Natalie on a Qatari Jet-Airplane
That little-handed MAGAit a grift billionaire"

Maybe get a blister on his little fingers

Trump's weird midterm convention in Dallas not looking so hot:
And some Republicans in tough races are steering clear of the gathering — which has come to be called “Trump-a-palooza” in some GOP circles — as they face growing hesitation about associating themselves with the polarizing president so close to the election.

it is awesome he’s asking candidates to fund him, that’s amazing

It's not a convention. It's a campaign rally, and we all know Trump is very fond of standing in front of large adoring crowds. The problem the organizers are going to be facing is how to get a crowd that's big enough and adoring enough while maintaining the pretense that this is not just another Trump rally, but some kind of GOP convention.

i think the main goal by calling it a convention is to get TV coverage and we can bet the MAGA compliant networks will

Well, it's one way to try to turn a rally into "news". Most networks backed off covering the rallies as the public got tired of them and tuned them out.

In 1866, Congress passed an amendment barring the “portrait or likeness” of living people from appearing on currency.

― Andy the Grasshopper, Thursday, September 3, 2026 3:24 AM (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

One way to read this is that the death penalty applies to living people who put their face on the currency

call it

Obviously Trump is dead already.

Capital hill reporter Jake stenographer Sherman with his breaking news on X :

JEFFRIES CRACKING DOWN ON GOLDEN AND MGP:

"The decision by two of our colleagues to blindside the entire House Democratic Caucus and join with the Republican majority to pass a procedural rule on the brink of failing represents a significant breach of trust. It necessitates a serious response, and we have asked the Committee on Caucus Rules to take this up in short order."

The House passed a resolution condemning socialism and those Dems voted for it . Jeffries should have known in advance how they would vote , and I am curious how Jeffries who happily meets with Jared Kirshner intends to punish those 2

Jake Sherman is a bit of a clown of course too

It wasn’t just condemning socialism. The GOP added the SAVE act.

Or a motion to proceed with consideration of a notion of a vote on the SAVE act.

the republicans: “we have no enemies to the right”

dems: “ditto!”

In the last two days, I've seen articles about Ted Cruz and Rahm Emanuel preparing to run for president in 2028. As someone who takes genuine pleasure watching horrible people completely eat shit as presidential candidates, I am entirely in favor of this, and I hope Chris Christie and Seth Moulton decide to give it another try, too.

The Treasury Department released rules that would prevent schools with race-based programs from qualifying for tax-exempt status, a threat to both higher education and other private schools.

Naked, blatant racism.

wtf does “race based programs” mean?

I'm assuming whatever this Administration defines it as, so basically anything they call "DEI".

During the hearing this morning on the mail-in voting rules Trump's trying to put in place, state lawyers for Texas argued that the judge should let states that want to comply with them go ahead and do it. Can't imagine why Texas would want to restrict its own voters ...

Talwani appears flabbergasted at Texas’ assertion that she should issue a preliminary injunction only blocking mandatory compliance with the final rule, so that USPS could still reject some ballots in states that choose to comply. Texas argues this would give the court “real world evidence” of how the rule operates.

Talwani fires back: “We’re not talking about an intellectual puzzle game. We’re talking about people’s right to vote.”

Talwani is obviously going to rule against this again, probably this afternoon, but then we go back to Appeals and/or a direct emergency application to SCOTUS. I know it sounds crazy to say this in light of everything they've already done, but part of me can't quite believe five of the right-wing justices will really allow such brazenly illegal disruption of an election that is just about to start. Mail-in ballots go out in like a week or two.

https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/mail-voting-live-updates-judge-weighs-fate-of-trumps-anti-voting-executive-order/

I guess what gives me whatever hope I have on that front is that SCOTUS has never substantively ruled in Trump's favor on all his vote-fraud allegations. But of course there's always a first time.

Trump threats today against the Fed

“LOWER THE RATE OR I'LL STOP TRADING WITH COUNTRIES WITH WHICH WE HAVE A DEFICIT, which the U.S. Supreme Court, in its ridiculous and very costly Tariff decision, strongly acknowledged ‘the President’ has an absolute right to do. ITS BETTER THAN TARIFFS!”

now that's the kind of clear-cut, direct address to the public that Teddy Roosevelt imagined with the "bully pulpit"

what the fuck is going on up there?

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House website on Thursday unveiled Arcade, a collection of five low-resolution video games that promote different aspects of President Donald Trump’s agenda.

“Build the Wall” is a “Tetris” knockoff that transforms the classic game into an effort to “Protect the border from the coming horde.” In “Rio Run,” which resembles the mobile favorite “Snake,” an icon resembling Trump runs around gathering potential border crossers.

In “Supply Line,” which looks like a condensed version of the arcade game “Tapper,” food moves along an assembly line and you must reject items that don’t meet “Make America Healthy Again” standards.

they re-made the root beer game? gotta admit that's a deep cut

There are some fucking amazing Senate ads running. Here's one from Roy Cooper:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ok9FcK9UpNA

Here's one from Sherrod Brown:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dr1KS5JepLA

Here's an anti-Ricketts ad from Nebraska:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16XW2WPicQs

I vote ‘He doesn’t know we have this material” as October thread title.

im tempted to start using esq for straight lol value it’s truly absurd lookin.

On the local front, I helped propel our local white nationalist county commissioner's odious views into local media coverage. (He called me out by name at the end of his rant, accusing me — accurately, to be fair — of having sent him a "snarky email" with questions about them.) I got to talk about it a little here.

― paper plans (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, September 29, 2026 6:50 PM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

get his ass

good job tipsy

Another ad, this one from Talarico:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-2A6-JdFgg

very odd Schmitt embarrasses himself like this the same day the story about him potentially being Vance's VP pick drops, he was a pretty unknown Senator until then

even when caught in a baldfaced lie he just...lies again

https://bsky.app/profile/ericcolumbus.bsky.social/post/3mwp5hezotc27

It's definitely pretty weird, this whole incident.

... and getting weirder.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/sep/29/raf-fairford-police-uk-counter-terrorism

i think this story is also complicated by the fact that farage is desperate to make hay off this being a terrorist attack by foreigners and trump and rubio are desperate for it to be a terrorist attack by foreigners that will redeem their disastrous and unconscionable war

I think this is a lesson to everyone not to go dogging by the fence of a RAF base being used to conduct an ill advised and illegal war.

This is good... wonder if SCOTUS will intervene

Three U.S. citizens arrested and detained by immigration agents are the first Californians to sue federal officers under the No Kings Act hours after it was signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday.

All three had filed earlier lawsuits against the federal government, but amended their complaints to reflect new claims under the law.

You can be sure the DOJ is going to contest this. Somebody has to be the test case and this is probably going to be it.

I'm glad the law passed and is being used, but I have always expected all of these kinds of claims to run ashore on qualified immunity. Which is such bullshit, just a completely invented judicial doctrine not even rooted in any law. We need actual federal laws to knock it down, I think.

But does qualified immunity apply for civil suits against individual agents?

Yeah that's the main thing it applies to really. Civil suits against government officials.

https://www.naacpldf.org/qualified-immunity-myths-and-dangers/

But if SCOTUS does block these kinds of suits under state laws, that could/should help build support for congressional action. (I mean, if you can imagine having a Congress that would do that.)

worthwhile first step gotta attempt to get the ball rolling

if anyone needs to be drowned in a vat of feces more than this dillweed, speak now

Throughout his address, Hegseth boasted touted his anti-diversity policies. He insisted that the Pentagon was “no longer the woke department or the weak department. Simple translation of that: no fatties, no trannies, no beardos, no weirdos, no wimps, no radicals. Just warriors.”

Absolute state of the force.

and that’s why we’re winning!

i hate his weird 'riffing', he does that all the time

best part is it was during of an announcement of an initiative headed by elon musk palmer luckey and newt gingrich all of whom are some combo of fat bearded weird and wimpy

https://cdn.thepoke.com/uploads/2025/08/19163707/hegsethpullup.png

^^^^^ this looks like me as a freshman in PE

Hegseth's anti-beard crusade is just so weird to me. Like I know the direct antecedent is Biden-era policy changes allowing a little more visible stubble so that Black service members don't have to give themselves folliculitis; but the average person hearing about "beardos" in the military is way more likely to picture a Delta Force operator beard, no?

I saw a soviet naval sailing ship in Seattle in like 1990, before the collapse... and most of the officers had big beards and they looked pretty badass

Hegseth's anti-beard crusade

Just wait till the next RNC. Grindr gets lit.

As of late September, about 16,000 U.S. service members had temporary shaving waivers for medical or religious reasons, according to data from the military services.

I think the last branch to openly allow beards was the Coast Guard and that ended decades ago

Temporary waving shavers

and most “veterans” I see or at least self-proclaimed ones are either fat or bearded or both

No beards means no goat majors and presumably no goats. What kind of warrior force doesn’t have goats, Pete?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_mascot#The_Royal_Welsh

This must be a swipe at Vance. He fits most of those categories.

there was a rumor that Hegseth thinks he’s presidential timber

yeah good call xp

More like waterlogged particle board

xp

https://i.ibb.co/bg4Vdbm2/Screenshot-2026-09-30-at-7-24-42-PM.png

The stats geek on morning CNN said today that the Repubs have out-performed their Sept. polling in midterms this century. Looking especially at Iowa, Michigan and Ohio, he thinks now that Senate will be most likely be 50-50, with Vance the tie-breaker, of course

yeah he dont know

"stats geek" = coked up geek Harry Enten?

I dunno his name. Or *at best* 50-50, even if Dems flip some states(with Turek at 42% in Iowa, candidates in Michigan and Ohio leading-within-margin-of-error). Hope he's rong

As a friend of mine likes to say, the demand for certainty greatly outstrips the supply.

Google sez:

Midterm Cycles Where Republicans Outperformed September Polls
• 2002 Midterms: Following the September 11 terrorist attacks, President George W. Bush maintained a strong public approval rating. Early September generic ballot polls showed a highly competitive neck-and-neck environment (often a slight Democratic edge or narrow GOP lead). In November, the GOP bucked the historical trend of the president's party losing ground, gaining 8 House seats and 1 Senate seat.
• 2014 Midterms: In early September, generic ballot polls pointed to an average Republican advantage of roughly 2 to 4 points. Driven by severe voter dissatisfaction, the actual election day results dramatically outpaced those expectations. Republicans won the national popular vote for the House by 5.7 percentage points, picking up 13 House seats and 9 Senate seats to recapture the Senate majority.
• 2020/2024 Presidential and Statewide Trends (Context): Analysts frequently note that Donald Trump and down-ballot Republicans heavily outperformed late-summer polling averages in major rust-belt states like Iowa, Ohio, and Michigan across consecutive cycles. Even during Trump's first midterm in 2018, final election outcomes in several key statewide Senate and gubernatorial races ended up significantly closer or broke more favorably for the GOP than their late-September polling baselines predicted.
🗳️ Midterm Cycles Where Republicans Did Not Outperform Polls
• 2006 Midterms: Public frustration over the Iraq War severely dragged down Republican numbers. September generic polls correctly identified a widening "Blue Wave" with Democrats leading by roughly 9 to 11 points. The final election results mirrored this collapse, resulting in Democrats netting 30 House seats and 6 Senate seats to sweep control of Congress.
• 2010 Midterms: September polls correctly foresaw a massive historic landslide fueled by the Tea Party movement. Generic ballot polling already had Republicans up by roughly 7 to 9 points in September. The actual results validated this wave, as the GOP flipped 63 House seats.
• 2022 Midterms: Pundits and aggregate polling models widely anticipated a massive "Red Wave" heading into the autumn. However, high salience surrounding the Supreme Court's abortion decision and poor candidate selection meant the anticipated GOP surge fell well short of expectations. Republicans only managed a razor-thin 9-seat House majority and actually lost a seat in the Senate.

That is, Trump seems likely to challenge anything more than bare-ass majority, and oh what am I saying he'll challenge that too, via DOJ.

Wait, where exactly is that block-quote from?

If you have to ask...

Is it google search AI?

This Guardian piece outlined some scenarios (tho I guess there must be quite a few versions of this article around by now): https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/sep/29/senate-democrats-trump-midterms

@Grok Is this Google Search AI?

"The patriotic cowboys are in, with testosterone testing on top." U.S. Politics Thread, October 2026