The Politics Thread

[marceline]

 

This a-s-shole. I hate him almost as much as Trump.

[Juliajms]

I would. I would be very surprised.  Why stop when you are in the middle of a major power grab? I can't think of a single reason why they wouldn't back 45 in hopes that RBG (in her 80's) will die. It's not like they needed him to get a conservative on the court anyhow. Pence would have done the same if that's all it's about.

 

I would love nothing more than to see him kicked out on his ass, but I'm not hopeful.

 

I understand if people don't like this guy, but I think he's right.

https://twitter.com/MichaelAvenatti/status/1012079664263827458

 

 

Edited June 28, 2018 by Juliajms

[Khan]

Well...maybe you're right.

 

Damn.  If we can't count on the President, Congress OR the Supreme Court to save us, who CAN we count on?  The local and state governments?  Good luck with that.  History shows that they rarely behave in the best interests of its' citizens.  (If the local and state gov'ts still had their way, African-Americans would still be slaves, with no voting privileges whatsoever.)

 

I'm beginning to think that Wendy is right.  Either we accept the death of the "American experiment" and embrace a return to tyrannical rule; or let those more progressively minded states cede from the union, and then stand back as the "Conservative States of America" disintegrates and begs the other side (and everybody else) to bail them out.

 

But, either way, the U.S. as we know it is just so [!@#$%^&*] fucked.

Edited June 28, 2018 by Khan

[Vee]

All we can do is what we did after the election in '04 - among many other miserable times. One foot in front of the other.

[Khan]

You know, it took a 9/11 to cause the divides that are engulfing this country...and it just might take another 9/11 to bring us all back together.

[Vee]

Let's not.

[Khan]

 

Wait a minute -- I'm not advocating for another 9/11-like catastrophe.  If I'm coming across that way, I apologize.  However, it is my firm conviction that this tribalism existing between the left and right -- something that, IMO, has its roots in post-9/11 uncertainty and outright hatred toward Muslims -- has more than a little bit to do with everything that's unfolding before our very eyes; and that it's gonna take another, similar tragedy -- or so it seems, to me -- before we, as a nation, get to the end of the movie, where we join Billie Jean in burning the merchandise that Hubie Pyatt's dad's been selling.

 

I just don't see any other way.

Edited June 28, 2018 by Khan

[Vee]

I can't wish that on us any more than I can a silver lining in today's news. There is no upside to that kind of mass horror, anymore than there is to having to potentially go around the country having to try to fuckin' re-legalize abortion state by fuckin' state in the 21st goddamn century. And yes, I've seen people today try to argue that doing so will 'just re-motivate the base!' Or lose the GOP that wedge issue permanently.

 

No. Some things are not worth the cost.

[Juliajms]

I certainly wouldn't be surprised if 45 found an "enemy" in an attempt to unite us close to the next presidential election. 

Very true.

[sivad40]

Here's an email I received yesterday (No, I'm not a conservative).

 

Fellow Conservative, Obama is back, and he's trying to take over.

He set up permanent shop in Washington, DC.

He's behind a Congressional redistricting scheme to erase Conservatives from the map.

He's having secret meetings with potential Trump challengers.

Now his political machine has announced a 27-district 'Hit List' to try to take away our Majority.

Please contribute $25 today to stop Obama's election interference! 

You don't have to read between the lines to see that Obama is trying to take over. He is the most powerful figure on the far Left -- and his ambition has no limits.
 

STOP OBAMA'S SCHEME! DOUBLE-MATCH STATUS: ACTIVE   Contribute $100   Contribute $75   Contribute $50   Contribute $25   Contribute Any Amount

 

It's an American tradition that when a President steps down, he stops clinging to power. But Obama isn't doing that. His election interference is completely unprecedented - and each new scheme is worse than the last.

Obama wants to be the man behind the curtains, hand-selecting the next Liberal President and pulling their strings. 

Contribute $25 today to stand up to Obama's election interference - your contribution will be DOUBLE-MATCHED!

We need to counter his influence on the elections before his scheme succeeds.

Thank you,

Steve Scalise
House Majority Whip

[DRW50]

 

If progressively minded states did secede, the more conservative areas of those states would likely just overtake them, especially since in many cases those pockets are more extreme in their conservatism than many red states.

 

Like Vee said, I think back to 2004 and 2005, where Republicans expanded their control of Congress and Bush was reelected with what he and the media smugly called a "mandate." The Patriot Act gave the government carte blanche to spy on anyone and detain anyone indefitinely. We had just pushed through an invasion of Iraq over the objections of the world, also leading our close allies in the UK to a trainwreck that led to a politician's suicide and helped destabilize Tony Blair's government and ultimately put the UK where it is now. Here at home, anyone who even questioned the idea of the Iraq war was viciously attacked, in some cases their careers and lives destroyed. 2002 had seen an election where Republicans viciously attacked Paul Wellstone's children after they lost their parents in a plane crash, and where Republicans ran an ad putting a quadraplegic Vietnam war hero next to Osama and Saddam - and they won handily. John Kerry had been smeared by an organization actually named "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" a few years later - they won again, handily. Partial-birth abortion laws had just been passed through Congress, complete with a notorious photo of W with a sea of old white men, smirking and grinning. Two Supreme Court justices were out, one through death and one through retirement; the latter was called a crucial swing vote. She was replaced by a very reliably right wing, cookie cutter conservative - only after Bush's attempt to replace her with an unqualified crony was shot down. We were bogged down in Iraq after shaming and alienating most of our allies. We were exposed as mindless, perverted torturers with Abu Ghraib. The education secretary barred PBS from showing an episode of a TV show solely because it had a gay character. There was talk of social security 'reform.' Myriad states were ramping up more anti-gay legislation since it had been a ballot box winner in 2004. 

 

The main talk at that time was of the "permanent Republican majority," with only Obama seen as a hope for the future on the Democratic side. 

 

It took the Terry Schiavo fiasco (with the Senate Majority Leader diagnosing a brain dead woman as still being cognizant via videotape and pushing through laws to "save" her because he wanted to run for President), the "heckuva job, Brownie," Katrina fiasco and the Mark Foley page fiasco to get Republicans to lose their grip on Congress.

 

I do think things are worse in a number of ways - Trump is going out of his way to alienate seemingly all of our allies, and they are moving on in ways that will affect us long after he is out of office. The economy is going to crash hard, very soon, and none of our social safety nets are left. The veneer of, as W and the media laughably called it, "compassionate conservatism" is long gone - Republicans have slashed and will continue to slash so many programs and are happy to see many suffer and die. We're putting immigrant children in cages and separating them from their families as our attorney general jokes about it. Voting rights are thrown out the window, more and more every year. Women's right, lgbt rights - going, going, gone. We could be thrown into a war at any time, as it's obvious that Trump is salivating at the idea. 

 

I think the main reason it feels worse is because Trump is so unhinged and his people don't even bother to hide their craven, sick ways. It's demoralizing. And there is no more idea of Republicans in Congress being a check for Trump. They have shown they simply will not be. Worst of all is that a man who simply doesn't even try to hide that he is a bigot and a misogynist is actually popular with wide swathes of the country - last time I checked, his approval ratings are about the same as Obama's. Of course I could say that's because the media hated Obama (which they did for most of his Presidency) while they have given Trump more leeway (and the media in general has less influence now than they did at that time), and I could say that it's because Trump is white and Obama is black, but still, it makes me feel sick to know someone can be so vile and still have that level of support. In some ways, even more, because a lot of people are going to turn out to vote this year in support of Trump's policies, whereas many people did [!@#$%^&*] all to support Obama's policies in 2010 or 2014.

 

I think the other reason is social media. I used to read political blog sites during the W years, and saw much of the same hopelessness mixed with righteousness (and endless purity tests and superiority dances) that is around now, but social media adds more mania and toxicity. And people trying their best to be so profound and special they just bring their own points down.

 

This also seems to lead to the never-ending need to remind everyone of Nazis and Hitler and how Trump and the Republicans are the Nazis and Hitler. Any and every cause or low point becomes about this need. A few days ago when the "civility" debate was still all the rage, someone dug up some 1934 NYT article about a Quaker leader who had urged Jews not to be too aggressive in their views of Hitler. And just in case this wasn't enough, I saw someone posting blog entries about this and claiming that this had been an NYT "editorial," not just an article they had printed. 

 

Some people seem to almost want to wallow in how everything is dead and everything is going to be taken over by Hitler and Nazis who will put them in camps. At some point it starts to feel like a fetish, and the more it goes on the more disturbing it is to me. 

 

Many people are fighting back, but many will remain stuck in what they want the world to be and even if it means demoralizing and distracting, it just doesn't matter to them.

Edited June 28, 2018 by DRW50

[DramatistDreamer]

While nobody's paying attention, so how about them American workers?

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[Roman]

30 people shot. 5 dead at a Newspaper building in Annapolis. the "POTUS" is given his "Thoughts and Prayers".

[DramatistDreamer]

 

Well, I hardly expect him to talk about how many hateful insults he has leveled at the media and the possibility that he inspired someone to act on it.

[Khan]

 

I think God would have a coronary if He ever heard the heathen actually praying.

 

And I REFUSE to believe Trump is capable of ONE thought, let alone several.

 

 

No, but I would expect him to pardon the shooter.

Edited June 28, 2018 by Khan