The Politics Thread

[I Am A Swede]

 

It's hilarious! At first I wondered if I had missed something, but then I remembered that the statement came from Trump.....  

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[JaneAusten]

There's the "progressive" Republican Party again.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/02/19/utah-republican-argues-against-equal-pay-for-women-its-bad-for-families-and-society/?utm_term=.7da02d56dc1b#comments

[DRW50]

Is it sad that I'm surprised there was even a backlash? I genuinely am surprised. 

[DramatistDreamer]

 

Yeah, I read about the new head of the FCC. It's a shame when high intelligence intertwines with a total lack of empathy and foresight.  I felt similarly about Condeleeza Rice.

So Chris Wallace of Fox Newschannel is saying that at least Obama never viewed the press as the enemy. This is where we are now, folks.

 

I haven't seen this show in ages since I no longer subscribe to cable but this struck me as why, controversy aside, I do miss watching Fareed Zakaria's show.

 

[GregNYC]

 

[Wales2004]

@DramatistDreamer I read something about that yesterday, including the day one promises he made.  I was asking what has he accomplished a couple of weeks ago because I kept hearing Trumpkins rave about all the hard work he's doing.  I have no idea what constitutes doing what he says unless what he says is that is he's going to sign a few papers, send out a bunch of tweets, complain about the media and take credit for plans that were already in progress. 

 

Among a whole list of other sad things is this position that some Republicans are taking that his words are not important and only his actions matter.  Rand Paul is probably one of those first of the look the other way lot, to try to find something that was not an act of terror that happened in Sweden last year, to excuse what Trump said happened in Sweden the night before.  I will never understand the mindset of any of those people who vote these self-serving individuals into office.

[Wendy]

Hi, James Woods! Remember Watergate? SHUT UP.

[Wales2004]

LOL at Fox finding some "ex-CIA Democrat" to claim spies are plotting and breaking the laws.  Did they report that they were under investigation for potentially breaking the law with their sexual harassment settlements? 

 

I guess it's only okay to acknowledge the political views of Hollywood actors when they're conservative.

[Roman]

Thank you. but, apparently it's fine for the sitting orange moron to delegitimize the former POTUS, saying he wasn't an american citizen. and JW? let's see, the last good project he was in was.......

aint that a real bitch? these people tell Hollywood actors to shut up or get out....unless they agree with said hack actor (who wouldn't be able to star in an Ed Wood film). But then I remember....'Don't feed the trolls'. 

Edited February 19, 2017 by Roman

[rhinohide]

I think it's a mistake to relegate those people to off mainstream media.  One of the most alarming aspects of this election cycle, for me, was that there are enough wicked people in this world to elect that orange smear in America's underpants. This killed the part of my soul that once believed fundamentally decent people could just disagree on policy.  I was naive. Embarrassingly so. I guess it was easy to ignore that the majority of people in my home state and my adopted state held such reprehensible ideas because their spokespeople have been positioned as "fringe" by mainstream news sources. They are not fringe. They form the core of the GOP now. They need to be revealed. Exposed at every opportunity.  

 

Pat Robertson claiming that opposition to Trump is the same as opposition to God needs to be heard by everyone. Not just the people who agree. I never want to make the mistake of underestimating them again. Keep them where I can see them. 

[MissLlanviewPA]

 

It's a shame David Boren retired when he did (not that I blame him for wanting to), because you guys lost a truly great public servant when that happened. 

 

And for years, despite Republican dominance in OK since at least the Great Depression, there was until about 5-10 years ago an advantage for the Democrats in terms of voter registration--I guess because of older voters who were too lazy to go to the DMV and change it to Republican? 

 

There's a famous country/bluegrass music show called Mountain Stage--produced by West Virginia Public Broadcasting--that's in danger of losing funding (I think that might have been the Appalachian program you had mentioned a few days before?), except bizarrely, some of that is actually coming from newly elected WV Governor Jim Justice--a Democrat (but also a billionaire, one of the few in his state).

 

And WV can use all the positive representation it can get nowadays. 

[Vee]

The Times on Trump and Flynn's latest big Russia connection.

 

TPM dissects it.

[DRW50]

 

The problem is they aren't exposed when they go on these shows. They are normalized. "Extreme" comments are chipped away at because they are never that extreme, as the people involved always pop back up. This Milo guy was a key figure in harassing a woman in large part because she was black, to the point where people hacked her just to humiliate her in the most personal way possible. And yet he still makes the rounds of talk shows, likely sitting and laughing it up with scum like Bill Maher when they aren't oncamera, because he's part of the circuit. Kellyanne Conway goes around spreading lies and inanity and insanity, but she still gets booked, no matter how much hypocrites like CNN or MSNBC pretend they are appalled, because she's also part of the circuit. That's not even getting into the lesser known carnival acts who pop up all over cable news. 

 

It's a sick but mutually beneficial relationship. These people get more attention, the "shocked" networks and hosts get more ratings and go viral. Matt Lauer doesn't give a damn about Trump, but he gets to be a social media hero for a day because he tsk-tsks Kellyanne Conway. 

 

They're playing us for fools. 

[rhinohide]

Damn!  I can't argue against your logic. Except to say, this xenophobic, white supremacist bullshit is suddenly normalized anyway. At least if it's forced into mainstream news programming, responsible broadcasters have the opportunity to confront it and oppose it directly. 

[DRW50]

 

I sound like an old man, but I blame a lot of it on social media and the Internet in general. You can't censor hate speech, not really, but it has become such a background noise that many were numb to it. There are a lot of voters who never go online, never go on Twitter or comments sections of articles and so on, but they get the same numbing from cable news, which has pushed far right viewpoints for 20 years while pretending it's all about "balance." None of this was ever pushed back against - instead these views are ignored, or treated in a patronizing way because of the idea that everyone obviously rejects them. So more extreme views just become everyday. 

 

I also blame all those stupid people over the last 20 years who have used words like "PC" as a crutch to be ignorant and stupid.

 

Anyway, it looks like even people Trump chose have had enough:

 

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/white-house-nsc-aide-craig-deare-dismissed-235175