The Politics Thread

[I Am A Swede]

I just read this in an article on bbc.com.

Maine's Governor Paul LePage, a Republican, said on Thursday taking down Confederate statues is "just like" removing a monument to the victims of the 9/11 attacks.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40965029

 

Can this actually be true? Is it possible that anyone could make that comparison?  

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[DRW50]

One of the stories that the media is hiding while they salivate over Trump - many states are moving forward with plans to push more people off Medicaid:

 

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/medicaid-waivers-trump-hhs

[Vee]

[DramatistDreamer]

What gets me is that Trump showed his true colors throughout the campaign last year and people chose to make themselves okay with his bigotry.

And yes, it's a perverted narrative when people believe that someone born with a silver spoon in their mouth, who has never had any direct contact helping people in need, would somehow understand the needs of everyday people. Somebody is perpetrating a huge fraud. Or somebodies.

[MichaelGL]

I've always thought that if one was going to campaign against Trump a great song to use during the campaign trail would be Creedance Clearwaters "Fortunate Son" which basically is a F-U to people like Trump.

[Juliajms]

He sure did, but he was still playing games back then. He'd give a dog whistle then look around "who me? Oh no, I'm the least racist person ever".  So Republicans could pretend.  He gave them just enough cover.  The mask is off now though. When you are defending actual Nazi and Klan members there's no pretending.

 

It does serve to show how completely tribal political parties have become though.  When I see people trying to deflect this, I'm amazed.  It proves that nothing will convince them they were wrong to vote this monster in.

[Khan]

My fear is that it'll take something more than merely devastating -- yes, something like the Holocaust -- before the base even approaches that point.

[Vee]

 

He is their unfiltered id. It emboldens them, consciously or unconsciously, and allows them to project their fear and resentment over a changing world and fading racial dominance in America onto a figure who can externalize all their negative emotions and act to quench them. They can all say they didn't know what he really meant or how far he'd go, that they're not as extreme as him, but on some level they knew and accepted it because their anxiety and fear about the loss of white dominance and the social mores of the past meant more to them than common decency.

 

Like Jimmy Kimmel said the other night many of them know they were wrong on some level, which is why they deflect or claim they didn't know or make excuses - like the crying woman on Fox did when she broke down after her panel didn't let her get away with a false equivalence. Some will come to grips with it on some wavelength, as Trump's falling polls show. Others never will.

Edited August 17, 2017 by Vee

[Vee]

Between the mysterious Camp David meeting and this, I am 'hmmm'ing a lot. This language is very specific.

 

 

Edited August 17, 2017 by Vee

[Juliajms]

I'm only half way through the MotherJones article that was posted, but it's a sobering reminder that something like the Holocaust is exactly what a portion of these people want.  The most disturbing part of the article is how casually it's stated.  One admits that she voted for Trump so he would "do away with some of these African American types". She said it in front of an AA woman who thought they were friends. I know we aren't allowed to be stunned any more, but I just don't know how to process some of this stuff.  I guess we can hope that their numbers are small. That's really all I've got right now.

Edited August 17, 2017 by Juliajms

[Vee]

[dragonflies]

 

[Vee]

Hooooooooooooo boy:

[JaneAusten]

That's a soft peddled story by non other than Maggie Haberman - shocking

[Vee]