marceline

There are still too many people in and out of the media who keep thinking his voters will see the light and admit they were wrong but that's not human nature. They will double down and make excuses because otherwise they have to admit they were conned *and* that they want to be just like him.

Start the clock. Whenever Trump is forced to back down and behave like an adult he retaliates and/or acts out. Today's trade "announcement" was a good example of that. He couldn't stand all the attention McCain was getting so he announced a partial trade deal that doesn't really exist.

I like that they keep asking him though. Not for McCain's family but because 1.) it just continues to show a petty toddler Donald is and 2.) it gives the rest of us ammunition when Cult 45 tries to blast NFL players for kneeling as claiming it's disrespectful to the flag and the vets.

Charlie Pierce nailed this years ago. The Republican Party fetishizes cruelty: "We cheer for cruelty and say that we are asking for personal responsibility among those people who are not us, because the people who are not us do not deserve the same benefits of the political commonwealth that we have. In our politics, we have become masters of camouflage. We practice fiscal cruelty and call it an economy. We practice legal cruelty and call it justice. We practice environmental cruelty and call it opportunity. We practice vicarious cruelty and call it entertainment. We practice rhetorical cruelty and call it debate." https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a26368/cruelty-in-excelsis/

In other more somber news...

YOU get a plea deal! An YOU get a plea deal! EVERYBODY GETS A PLEA DEAL! Seriously though. Manafort's trial was the canary in the coal mine for these folks. None of them are going to go down for Grandpa Ranty.

And that's separate from the next trial which starts to delve into the Russia stuff.

My thoughts exactly. I don't see how he's not looking at a polonium smoothie.

You're right that Congress will do nothing but this investigation will keep taking people down.

Cohen's doing years.

Donald's latest behavior is why I have no fear of a Trump 2020. His mental deterioration over the last few months but especially since the Manafort trial began. If you look at the stages of dementia, he's pretty much late stage five. He's lost even the basic ability for self control https://www.dementiacarecentral.com/aboutdementia/facts/stages/ Mid-Stage Stage 5: Moderately Severe Cognitive Decline People in this stage have major memory deficiencies and need some assistance to complete their daily activities (dressing, bathing, preparing meals). Memory loss is more prominent and may include major relevant aspects of current lives; for example, people may not remember their address or phone number and may not know the time or day or where they are. Average duration: 1.5 years Mid-Stage Stage 6: Severe Cognitive Decline (Middle Dementia) People in Stage 6 require extensive assistance to carry out daily activities. They start to forget names of close family members and have little memory of recent events. Many people can remember only some details of earlier life. They also have difficulty counting down from 10 and finishing tasks. Incontinence (loss of bladder or bowel control) is a problem in this stage. Ability to speak declines. Personality changes, such as delusions (believing something to be true that is not), compulsions (repeating a simple behavior, such as cleaning), or anxiety and agitation may occur. Average duration: 2.5 years

Manafort is on trial for 18 different charges. That bias can have all the influence in the world but he's not going to "walk" on all of them. Based on what I'm reading on the law blogs, it will probably be 10-8.

Not as long as black people are still allowed to vote. Cuomo is 57 points ahead of her with black voters and that video is a good example of why. Black Americans understand exactly what all this talk about America's "greatness" means. America's greatness was built on the backs of our ancestors. Hearing someone say that "America was never that great" is a refreshing bit of honesty. The truth is that white lefties especially white lefty men love Ocasio-Cortez. The Democratic base i.e. black women don't. We don't hate her (although I personally am getting there fast) but she's not the shining star that the media wants to make her. Her campaign is basically powered by white guys with boners. She's not the left's Sarah Palin. She's the left's Ivanka Trump. She's vapid and she lies but she gets a pass because she's pretty.

This is how you can tell that the current GOP is a cult. Families having to cut of members because of what they've become. It's something a lot of "regular" Americans need to start thinking about when it comes to their friends and family.

I don't trust anyone who looks at Trump and sees an opportunity for themselves instead of a threat to others.

The backlash has already begun. When the far left wins it's Bernie's revolution, when they lose is her fault. But the truth is the press was building her up just so they tear her down and, sadly, she bought her own hype.

Plus the GOP had to pour millions of dollars into defending what should've been a sure thing. Half the reason Tiberi quit was because he wasn't concerned about the GOP losing the seat.

I don't believe the NRA is broke. This feels like a fundraising ploy.

What's worse is that they will bailout these farmers and then turn around and cut programs that help people in cities. Republicans are doing anything possible to punish cities and help rural voters.

The tax cut is a perfect example of how wealthy Republicans get poor and middle class people to cut their own throats. I see people on Sherrod Brown's page just lying about all the money they're getting now because of the tax cuts. Republican voters love to think of themselves as temporarily embarrassed millionaires. It reminds me of how most of the people fighting for the Confederacy in the Civil War were too poor to own slaves but they were still willing to die to preserve the institution of slavery.

This is another example of how craven and complicit Congressional Republicans are. For all their tweets about being "concerned" or "troubled." Only Republicans have the power to fix any of this and they won't. Tim Scott could become the most powerful man in Congress if he wanted to.

The "maybe Obama ran too early" is just another attempt tell oppressed people to shut up and wait for our oppressors to decide that we deserve equal rights. (Hint: they never will.) And now that we've seen yet another historical example of the hypocrisy and depravity that white people will practice in the name of dominance (see also: Japanese internment, Jim Crow, the Chinese Exclusion Act, the Trail of Tears, etc...)let's just stop acting like there's ever going to be a right time. The Republicans decide to burn this country to the ground whenever a Democrat is in charge because Democrats don't center whiteness.

And it's important not to forget that because when Trump goes down, the people who voted for him will still be here and the things that motivated them to do that will still be here. The same is true for the ratfuckers on the left. A lot of the Sanders left is motivated by hatred of Barack Obama, either because of their own racism or as in the case of Cornel West just petty jealousy.

Part of me thinks that Crowley has learned his lesson about the price of complacency. I have to admit to not paying a lot of attention to this race before because it was a safe seat but I heard he sent a surrogate to the debate instead of showing up himself and that was just shameful. He deserved to lose for that. I just don't believe Cortez will be a very good rep. The problem with ACO is that she still hasn't pivoted to the general. Berners have a tough time getting out of primary mode because they see Democrats as the enemy not Republicans. It's one of the reasons I can't ever support them.

Too late. She's already clearly drunk on her own hype and a full-blown member of the Talibern. Even though Joe Crowley lost the primary he will still be on the ballot in November as the candidate of the Working Families Party which means voters could very well send him back to the House. Ocasio-Cortez seems to be doing everything in her power to make that happen. Also there TV appearances like this one, which is just embarrassing.