The Politics Thread

[Vee]

Again - Coons was soundly ignored re: the last big bill despite a ton of hype from the Beltway press when he put his voice in. And so far, none of the Beltway agita over infrastructure seems to have derailed the bill or changed Biden's approach atm. Signal =/= noise.

Edited May 3, 2021 by Vee

[JaneAusten]

I know some things are just playing out and Biden has to make the appearance of attempts at compromise.  And I also don't believe Joe Manchin is the biggest problem. I believe there are others in the caucus more silent who share much of what he says.  But Jim Justice the current Governor of WV has already come out in favor of many aspects of the infrastructure plan including Job retraining and referenced the collapse of the coal industry as one of the main reasons. I do wonder if he and Manchin are working hand in hand with Justice giving Manchin and perhaps some of those other silent skeptics in the senate some cover. I also wonder if WV is term limited in their Gov and Justice plans to run for something else after his second term ends.

 

The polling doesn't shock me. I do think a lot of the general public doesn't really give a *amn what the Beltway press and much of congress has to say in opposition to things that can help them and their communities.

Edited May 3, 2021 by JaneAusten

[Vee]

 

[Vee]

 

[Vee]

 

[Vee]

 

[DRW50]

Josh Barro is one of those tedious faux-macho edgelords that make up so much of the Bernie bros, but as Liz Cheney faces her political doom, this same thought popped into my mind:

 

 

[DRW50]

@Vee Maggie Haberman aside, this made me laugh and laugh. All these mentally ill grifters just keep slowly walking into Trump's knife. 

 

 

[Vee]

They really do, lol.

 

In other lighthearted news:

 

 

[Vee]

Trump has a (doomed) blog now:

 

 

[DRW50]

A lot of the Trump cultists on social media have moved to Substack. I wonder if any of them got his people to have him start up a blog.

[Vee]

 

[Vee]

Facebook's (imaginary) Oversight Committee has upheld its ban of Trump, but punted it another six months down the road for future 'review.' I would not assume he will be allowed back in six months though, as many prognosticators were positive he would be today and he wasn't. Meanwhile:

 

 

IMO Swan and many others like him who rely on Trump for major career boosts are wrong - Trump won't run. I've said this for months now: He's lazy, profoundly disinterested in doing the work and his first run was a PR stunt that got out of control. He's barely doing a thing today. Remember all those claims that 'Trump will be a major GOP mover and shaker for years to come' in November? All pushed by journalists like Haberman on the Trump beat hoping to keep him relevant? What is he doing in FL but blogging and crashing weddings? Nothing. People are coming to him, he's not actively doing anything himself. He'll talk about running, he'll pocket money specifically for a run, but he will not seriously run. I'll bet on it.

[DRW50]

Not that it ever really matters (it didn't when McConnell said he would work to do nothing but stop Obama from getting reelected), but McConnell finally saying the quiet part out loud should put the "why isn't Biden bipartisan" [!@#$%^&*] to bed once and for all.

 

 

[Vee]

McConnell has fùcked up. He's given the Beltway nowhere to go giving him cover and trying to push 'bipartisanship' on Biden.