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

These guys and their fucking balls...

https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3mwr274cutq2l

Real quotes from real men.

The best verse Walter Becker wrote for "Gaucho."

lol

this guy seems typical of independents from conservative states in many ways, but christ the ad is fucking good

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DduPX2OJuBK/?stkn=MTd3ZWZpZWF4a2Rzaw==

Hegseth walks like Nick Tortelli from Cheers. But Nick's a lot smarter.

I know it's fucking Idaho, but still, don't bet against a guy named Achilles.

I don't know about this:

https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:2amnkge5a6hplfwyesmxqkfl/post/3mwq7pm2dt226

El pobre!

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/01/us/politics/supreme-court-roberts-maine.html

"ISOLATED" YOU SAY

Lol @ "kayaktivists"

Yesterday I saw a Talarico internal poll for a Trump +18 district that showed Paxton and Abbott each up by 1 point. If that's at all accurate, it could be an utter disaster for Republicans in Texas.

Texas, choosin'.

#onethread

I don't know about this

Whether or not Talarico's biblical arguments against ICE's cruel and inhuman treatment of immigrants will be strong enough to turn large numbers of evangelicals away from the Republicans in Texas, it is an argument that needs to be made, forthrightly and with conviction, over and over again any way, because it is morally correct, it aligns with those famous "Judeo-Christian values" the RR loves to big up, and it directly undermines the authority of the leaders who preach against the duty to love one's neighbor. None of this should offend those of other faiths or the non-religious, so long as it's framed as a personal conviction, not a blanket imposition of Christianity on society as a whole.

I meant the numbers.

The argument has to come first, before the numbers can follow. I think it would be a cumulative process across many elections in many places, not a 'one off' in Texas in November.

I think there is something to be said about the public finally getting a look at what "who cares, get them all out" actually looks like and surprise surprise they do not like it

I just saw (on Bluesky) a poll that has Marie Gluesenkamp Perez down a point to a Republican challenger, with 5% "undecided". As the person who posted it said, "MGP getting randomly taken out in a year where normal Democrats are simply winning districts with identical or worse partisanship would be so incredibly funny ngl"...

It's hard to say with Glusenkamp-Perez how much of her voting with republicans was a reflection of personal convictions and how much it reflected the 'expert help and advice' she got from the DNC and the multitudes of centrist-Democrat political consultants in DC. In reality, she was a freshman rep with very little experience in any kind of office who was in over her head from the get go

Her district is rated R+2 so some of her votes are surely an attempt to distance herself from the Crazy Libs.

Today Harry Enten is claiming that Ken Paxton's net approval rating is by far the worst among Republican Senate candidates in key states at -16pts.

MGP is running against an apparent moderate in 2026, instead of the MAGA lunatic Joe Kent who she beat both times she won: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Braun

probably a much harder lift in that district

if you're in a spot in your life where you're listening to the charlie kirk show, here's what you would have heard after the Schmitt / Smith self-own the other day:

But Schmitt continued to double down in an appearance on the “Charlie Kirk Show,” the former broadcasting home of the late, far-right activist, immediately after the hearing. Beaming into that program following an ad for “meat delivery,” Schmitt joined host Andrew Kolvet, who praised his work in the hearing. He also amplified Schmitt’s conspiracy theory even though it had already begun to fall apart.

“Jack Smith is a total dirtbag and you caught him out on this NBA game … in Atlanta,” Kolvet said to Smith. “It was a great moment. Good for you on that.”

Schmitt described Smith as “the epitome of what the weaponization of government is all about” and suggested he had proved the special counsel engaged in “coordination” with other prosecutors.

“Dang,” said a giggling Kolvet. “You had text messages from his team confirming that he was going to a Hawks game and he sat there acting dumbfounded and completely clueless.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXeJeGG3n2Y

I love the fact that a New York Times columnist routinely uses the phrase "right-wing chud" on YouTube, and I can only hope that it'll make it into one of his columns one day.

xp I mean lying works pretty well, especially if you get your information from Zombie Charlie Kirk.

Pete Hegseth announced on Wednesday that Elon Musk will co-lead a government project to study the future of warfare, marking the SpaceX CEO’s first return to government since he ran the chaotic, so-called “department of government efficiency”, or Doge. Musk will be joined by Palmer Luckey, CEO of the defense tech company Anduril, and Newt Gingrich, the former Republican speaker of the House.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/sep/30/pete-hegseth-elon-musk-taskforce-warfare

I was just coming here to see if anyone noticed Musk back on the scene just before another election too

to study the future of warfare

no beardos, no weirdos

sure why shouldn’t government contractors decide what the future of warfare is, why not

"Turns out it's more contracts for MEEEEEE."

Interesting confluence of stories here today

Funds appropriated for being used for border security and memorials being used for tv commercials
https://wapo.st/4hVX59I

Funds appropriated for European aid being diverted to Latin America
https://wapo.st/4yqSpyn

Here's hoping the "fuck you I do what I want" presidency may prove tougher to operate without congressional majorities.

Yeah I know I know, Democrats suck but let me harbor this one glimmer of hope that in 2027-29 we get at least a little pushback of "oh yeah? With what money?" Like genuinely refusing to fund his priorities if he continues to ignore Congress. Make those fuckers beg.

Eisenhower did take the time to warn us about the system he set up.

should’ve heeded the founding fathers and never had a standing army in the first place

Instead we have an army, plus all these well-regulated militias.

well (hesitation marker) regulated militias

Anybody noticed whether the Dems, candidates or others, have commented yet on the Christa Pike situation/travesty? https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/-was-mess-tennessee-fails-execute-inmate-2-lethal-injections-rcna600863

US Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn, who is running for Tennessee governor, described the situation as "tragic".

"While there should be a thorough review of what happened and why the process failed, the answer is simple: bring back the electric chair," Blackburn said.

Democrat Jerri Green, Blackburn's opponent, criticised her for wanting to "bring back one of the most cruel forms of capital punishment".

"As governor, I would put a moratorium on all future executions," Green said on X.

In May, the execution of Tony Carruthers was called off after staff were unable to find a vein to administer a lethal drug. Carruthers was given a year's reprieve.

Jasmine Crockett Offered Lobbying Services on Her Campaign-Funded Website – While in Office

Texas Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett was offering government relations and lobbying services on her campaign-funded website, a move experts say tests the limits of congressional ethics – and possibly the law.

Crockett lost her Senate bid in March. By May this year, a solicitation appeared on the website for her merchandise, “The Clapback Collection,” allowing users to inquire about Crockett’s consulting services and more.

“Political Consultant- Book Now,” a button on the bottom of the webpage read. Upon clicking the button, a selection of offerings appeared: campaign management and strategy; communications and public relations; government relations and lobbying; digital and social media; and political risk management.

The consulting and lobbying offering was removed from the website after Zeteo reached out to Crockett’s office for comment.

sorry, this is so dumb, but for some reason i just regained my ability to "see" the MAGA hat again, like i was seeing it for the first time. remembering how hilariously awful they looked, the red "make america great again" hats. i think it was seeing a photo of jd vance with a crowd of young people wearing those hats behind him. i think we've all seen the hats so often we got desensitized to how bad they are

ok, back to work

it's like when momentarily realizing the word "the" in english is just so fucking weird. but then it goes back to normal

how often do you see people on the street wearing MAGA hats?

It's been a while but I used to -- and by a while I mean 2016 and 2017. Plenty of yard signs, though!

MTG has a whole bit about how she *never* sees them anymore

I've only seen one in public recently, at a grocery store on the head of a some guy in his 60s and told him "I love your pedophile hat!" and he and his wife were very not happy...

i haven't seen a hat in a year or more, though last weekend i did see a car near the Costco in Cherry Hill, NJ, that was perhaps the most unhinged ride i have ever seen.

https://archive.org/download/unctommagacar/unctommagacar.jpg

I never see them here (NE Mississippi) and haven't in years. Some right-coded tshirts, eagles and flags and such, but most proclamatory clothing around here is of the "ask me about my christianity" type. #blessed

used to be plenty of trump signs in northern vt including throughout bidens years but they were all packed up within the first six months of trump 2

idk if i ever saw a hat up here tho maybe a bridge too far

Virginia is for losers

this guy seems typical of independents from conservative states in many ways, but christ the ad is fucking good

I'm gonna watch it again just because it's so much FUN.

Fun that it’s never really framed by Dem aligned media as problem for Buttigieg or Hillary or Klobuchar or Shapiro or Newsome or Rahm Emanuel. Just Bernie and Leftists every time. wEiRd!

one can only guess why black voters might be suspicious of leftists

Wait, I thought I was one of ILX's right-wing posters! I'm confused... you better go check with table and let me know where I stand.

did you get the sense that haley stevens was better at organically connecting with black voters? or was it the fact that jim clyburn campaigned with her? let’s be serious for a minute here friends.

otm

he “has problems” with black voters for the same reason every other progressive has problems with black voters: the black political establishment poured their time and resources into gaslighting their constituency that progressives are evil and dangerous, and now the party has to play cleanup

― k3vin k., Monday, October 19, 2026 1:26 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

fucking ding ding ding so otm it hurts.

also unperson, i don’t think you’re right wing. i think we’re different types of left, fwiw

you guys can read up about the bernie campaign its not made up that he fucked up with black voters, and while he mightve been at a disadvantage due to legacy structural things ultimately you gotta play the hand youre dealt, contrast that with mamdani who underperformed with black voters in the primary but then put in the work and made a lot of progress by the general, also not sure how much sway jim clyburn has in michigan

sure, the politician has to do the necessary song and dance, but it’s not some moral issue we have to care about

i do think its more than that and just being totally dismissive of the whole process is kind of a leftist personality flaw type situation, for instance bernie making common cause with steve bannon is a moral failing thats not unrelated to thinking that building long term trust with black voters is just some perfunctory nonsense

Yeah, I agree. These things aren't a binary.

Bernie was, I would argue, uniquely bad at communicating with Black voters. I do not think El-Sayed needing to say a few extra things about the specifically fraught relationship between Black and Arab Michiganders, and saying those exact things, is in any way comparable. The few 75-year-old Black voters willing to say to reporters that they don't feel like they've been personally pandered to enough by a candidate who's been talking for his entire campaign about how he wants to make everyone in Michigan's material existence better are, I would hope, unrepresentative of the broader Michigan Black Democratic voting public.

ILE is also a primarily white space, so I'm open to having my opinions contradicted.

Black voters aren't a monolith by any means. But one thing I've found in talking to multiple generations of Black political leaders (existing and aspiring) is that their approach to politics is ideological mostly in the sense that they have learned that all that counts is who gets paid. Who gets to eat first. Because in their experience, with liberal white nonprofits and consultants as much as gladhanding conservative business leaders, Black people always get paid last. It's a pragmatic, transactional and basically survivalist approach to political power. They tend to be cautious about risking existing gains and upending partnerships with people or institutions that have been good allies. So I don't think it's that they're "gaslighting" anyone about those dangerous commies, it's that they don't trust people promising things that they haven't shown they can deliver. This is pretty reasonable imo — and it leaves plenty of room for people on the left to make a case for Black support. But you have to know who you're talking to and how they're going to hear things.

(I think there are similarities in politicians from other racial/ethnic minorities, the first job is delivering for your people in tangible ways because "the system" is not going to just do it automatically. Get that new rec center or transit center or jobs program, whatever it is.)

I think that it’s true that white leftists often don’t know how to relate to black voters. Haley Stevens did a great job going into black communities and listening to them. I don’t get the feeling that Abdul El-Sayed has done that as successfully, but I give him credit for trying.

let's see what this Obama appearance does to his standing, I think it'll be helpful

highly annoyed that unperson is claiming right wing status when I am standing over here claiming discounts on trinkets as a warmongering flag-fucking chud

They tend to be cautious about risking existing gains and upending partnerships with people or institutions that have been good allies. So I don't think it's that they're "gaslighting" anyone about those dangerous commies, it's that they don't trust people promising things that they haven't shown they can deliver. This is pretty reasonable imo — and it leaves plenty of room for people on the left to make a case for Black support. But you have to know who you're talking to and how they're going to hear things.

― paper plans (tipsy mothra), Monday, October 19, 2026 4:30 PM (six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

think it’s just naive to suggest that candidates are speaking to voters here instead of power brokers. these voters aren’t stupid, but like most people who don’t read about policy obsessively they are going to outsource their decision making to power brokers, who in this case, and I think it’s fair to say in most cases, don’t actually have their best interests at heart. I’m not a michigan voter, but I’m simply not going to buy the talking points the establishment is peddling and no one else who thinks for themselves has to either

you and I and everyone else itt can easily say that el-syed was the better candidate. the fact that people like clyburn complicate the calculus is something that is bad and should be called out and organized against. not that complex imo!

No one's denying that the Clyburns in those echelons of power should be shunned.

I think that it’s true that white leftists often don’t know how to relate to black voters. Haley Stevens did a great job going into black communities and listening to them. I don’t get the feeling that Abdul El-Sayed has done that as successfully, but I give him credit for trying.

― Dan S, Monday, October 19, 2026 4:38 PM (twenty-seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

this is so nate silver brained! I’m not a black voter in michigan deciding between a dark-skinned arab guy and a white lady. lol. fucking absurd situation! I don’t care about this shit. vote for the best candidate and try to be aware of the malign forces influencing you to vote against your interest

No one's denying that the Clyburns in those echelons of power should be shunned.

― stopping by billy woods on a snowy evening (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, October 19, 2026 5:08 PM (twenty-three seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

not so sure about that at all

well, maybe Dan S. is in 2026.

and speaking as one of the only Hispanics on ILX who works for the party locally, it's also true that Florida Dem satraps redpill voters into swallowing the same oatmeal they serve in Michigan.

It sounds like you are saying that black voters are duped by power brokers. Who do you mean, Clyburn? Come on. Tipsy is right

do you think haley stevens, a white woman, was a better candidate for black voters than abdul el-syed, a person of color? serious question

yes

I want El-Sayed to win though, sincerely

I agree that most voters regardless of demographics aren't all that well informed. I also agree that lots of elected officials of both parties are looking out for themselves more than their voters, I think that's always more true than not. (Lemme tell you about my congressman, for example.) But also Black politics in the USA is its own thing with its own quite specific history, and fundamental to that is that it is about taking care of Black communities first. Not that they don't want to care about other people, but the experience has been that nobody else is reliably going to look out for them. So I think it's a mistake to go into Black political spaces — rallies, churches and so forth — and not talk about race in some pretty specific ways. Of course, there are better and worse ways to do that (Donald Trump at the Assn of Black Journalists lol). And I mean, I don't think this is all that different for any minority group. Arab-Americans in Michigan obviously want to hear that too, that politicians understand their particular challenges and concerns.

The stereotype of the tone-deaf leftist in these situations is that the leftist only wants to talk about class, the ways we're all in the same struggle, don't get distracted by race or religion or ethnicity. But if you're racial, ethnic or religious minority, you're not all actually in the same struggle, it has different forms and parameters. So I think that's just what non-stereotypical non-tone-deaf leftists need to incorporate. Nonwhite leftists will probably be better at that than white leftists.

(And fwiw I think El-Sayed is a very good candidate, and I haven't read or seen enough about what his campaign is actually doing on the ground to assess whether he's doing these things well or not.)

serious question

If all that a Black voter knew about those two candidates was that one was a white woman and the other a man of color, I could see where, with nothing else to go on, the Black voter might incline to the man of color. But that isn't how campaigns happen or voters vote. There was a range of information available to voters and most Black voters would at least know more about them than their gender and skin tone. Each Black voter would take what they knew - or thought they knew - and make a choice.

It's a cinch that in the primary both Stevens and El-Sayed got votes from Black voters who came to differing conclusions about them. Now the question is whether those Black voters for Stevens have concluded El-Sayed is worthy of their trust, and if not, why did they conclude that. Good bet it'll be based on something other than skin tone or gender in most cases.

it's also worth noting that the opposition has been painting El-Sayed as a socialist, which I have not heard him declare himself to be; but for attack ads, you don't really need much 'proof'

It's a cinch that in the primary both Stevens and El-Sayed got votes from Black voters who came to differing conclusions about them. Now the question is whether those Black voters for Stevens have concluded El-Sayed is worthy of their trust, and if not, why did they conclude that. Good bet it'll be based on something other than skin tone or gender in most cases.

I would be interested to see the numbers from the primary. Every article says Stevens beat El-Sayed among Black voters, but what was the split? Was it 95-5 or 60-40?

yes

― Dan S, Monday, October 19, 2026 5:29 PM (fourteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

thanks, though I now remember that your apparent sole information about this race is the centrist spin given your comment a week or two ago about his “problem with black voters” lol. so that’s on me

all I’m saying is that while we can all do our own due diligence on these issues, at the end of the day we don’t have to buy into the establishment’s narrative

But also Black politics in the USA is its own thing with its own quite specific history, and fundamental to that is that it is about taking care of Black communities first.

tipsy, what I’m trying to press you on is that it’s actually not. it’s chiefly about preserving their own leaders’ seats and their sway

I think that's entirely too reductionist (and somewhat close to the way right-wingers dismiss Black politicians as "race hustlers"). And is exactly the way that leftists can seem kinda tone deaf!

That's not a defense of any given politician, like I said I think the Democratic Party establishment is sclerotic and bought out and needs to be challenged, including the Black establishment. A lot of younger Black politicians would agree. But Black politics has a lineage that matters, and any politician from outside it who wants to earn support there has to do a lot of work — for which there are sound and good reasons.

yeah, I just don’t agree that the black establishment is worth listening to, and their choices of candidates speak for themselves. and younger voters, of all races, are hip to this dynamic and have spoken with their votes

I'm all in favor of younger Black leaders challenging and remaking the Black establishment. But I respect the existence of the Black establishment as a political force at all, it didn't come cheap or easy.

. In the sense that power corrupts, it doesn’t just stop because someone is of a particular race, ethnicity, whatever.

“ I’m not a black voter in michigan”

Maybe just leave it at that

you’re right, nothing better is possible

“ But I respect the existence of the Black establishment as a political force at all, it didn't come cheap or easy.”

Seriously just ignoring the history behind the creation of this establishment does not come off well

Where is kevin doing that? unless i missed something, he is indicting the way politics and power operate among certain members of the Black establishment today. this shouldn’t be controversial, and honestly arguing that corruption should be excused because of very real and continuing histories of hardship and trauma is fucking racist as hell.

What corruption are we talking about here? Maybe I didn’t read far enough up, but I thought this was about the black establishment being weary of el-Sayad

why do you think the black establishment is weary of a progressive whose family is from africa? normal reasons?

wary*

Must be corruption?

ok man lol. keep riding for gerontocracy

Just trying to be respectful honestly

go hawks brother

Bless

Just remembering getting the 3rd degree from an old friend in 2020 for my support of Bernie, when “heroes like Clyburn and many in the CBC” were supporting Biden, and suggested maybe I should take a seat and listen to Black Voices. But only a very specific slice of Black voices, like ones who take money from health insurance companies and AIPAC or talk on MSNBC.

Btw, that friend is white, and he’s a Republican now (Now! In 2026!) because Democrats are too crazy and trans and woke and socialist and didn’t get back to work soon enough during Covid.

But hey, at least we got 70k dead in Palestine and Trump back in the WH, so who’s to say who’s right or wrong.