Mourning in America - Trump Year One: November '16 to

the reason why it currently doesn't have representation is the exact same reason we can't change the electoral college in the short-term - you can't separate the moral issues from the fact that the end result of these changes would be a transfer of political power in our direction and republicans know this

Yes and the same dynamic underpins every discussion of voting rights / voting access / voter id.

You can make the argument in the abstract, as an issue of basic civil rights, but everyone knows that the people who we want to be enabled to vote are presumed to be Democratic-leaning.

one of the reasons why you could hope for change *one day* is that unlike dc statehood / voter id stuff / giving felons voting rights, the electoral college is not *so* directly correlated to 'well, now democrats just get more voters. forever.' honestly probably is overall due to turnout stuff, but there are potential maps where the electoral college benefits dems, and it's not inconceivable that it costs the republicans an election one day. again, people forget that it actually came super close to happening in 2004.

it could be an issue becomes a moral and practical issue and maybe small/swing state voters actually end up willing to give up their advantage just so we have a voting system that they actually understand. but that's going to happen when it feels like a politically neutral institution, not right after it cost the democrats an election.

and also it's just a weird thing to spend any political energy on because in the long-term, 'winning the presidency' is one of the few things dems are actually kinda good at and well set up to do in the future.

@dick_nixon
It is always a tragedy if the president dies in office. If the next one should die I fear it would be much worse than that.

I feel I can say this given the crap being peddled by Trump's doctor.

At present someone is nominally in charge. If Trump should die, no one is obviously in charge. No one likes or is loyal to Pence.

in the long-term, 'winning the presidency' is one of the few things dems are actually kinda good at and well set up to do in the future.

True. Even in this sorrowful time, Democrats came a lot closer to winning the presidency vs. winning a majority of governorships, state legislatures, the U.S. House, etc.

dem pres won 4 out of the last 10 elections last so they do about as good as a coin toss

Donald J. Trump – Verified account ‏@realDonaldTrump

The United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes
8:50 am - 22 Dec 2016

wtf is this supposed to mean

@realDonaldTrump: The United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes

http://pix.iemoji.com/images/emoji/apple/ios-9/256/thinking-face.png

Xp

He's going for a Reagan-esque koan and wrote a moron-esque scribble

channeling the spirit of general buck turgidson

absolutely. The Tea Party proved it's not as hard as people think to change the direction of a party with a relatively small group of committed activists. I don't think you'll see quite the same degree of focus on the left, but I think you'll see larger numbers of people getting involved.

The Tea Party was astroturfed fully formed from the heads of the Koch Brothers!

This was Putin yesterday:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C0S7_gNUoAEOiNR.jpg

I must furiously masturbate in public until the scourge of public masturbation has at last been curbed.

It's an obvious Commie trick, Mr. President. We are wasting valuable time! Look at the big board, they're getting ready to clobber us!

Newt backtracks on "draining the swamp," on video!

https://twitter.com/jeremyscahill/status/811986402099527680

lap it up, lapdog

Trump HIMSELF has already pointedly said, on video, at one of his own rallies, within the past week or so, that 'drain the swamp' was foisted upon him and that he thought it was stupid and that he never believed it. The fuck is even going on.

But I'm sure if asked, he would deny ever saying the thing he was filmed saying.

I'm like 90% sure he's exhibiting signs of dementia

I can think of no other reason for the shot that is going on with him.

Shit*

That seems like one of Trump's weird tics, to go on those ex tempo asides during his speeches about whether some campaign phrase worked, whether he liked it, etc. I always find it jarring to hear.

It's very, idk, solipsistic? Does it actually excite his base?

The campaign was the greatest event of his life. He's savoring it. From Janurary 20th on out it will all be downhill and he knows it.

remembering that trump cares only about himself explains that pretty well xp

Trump being Trump is what got Trump elected.

regarding electoral college -- thing is, I always figured it existed to keep guys like Trump from winning every time. Can't always work, but without it, surely we end up with many more demagogues, no?

one is plenty

the electoral college may have originated as a way to protect from demagogues or foreign influence, but now it's merely a formality and giant gerrymander, and nothing more

p much

The campaign was the greatest event of his life. He's savoring it. From Janurary 20th on out it will all be downhill and he knows it.

― a little too mature to be cute (Aimless), Thursday, December 22, 2016 12:48 PM (seventeen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah. i think that if there were a way for him to resign gracefull and in a way that doesnt admit fault/frailty/weakness he would do it

On Tuesday, TechCrunch obtained Cook’s response on Apple’s internal network to a question from an employee about the Trump meeting.

Cook first described how it was critical for Apple to “engage” with governments on what he called “our key areas of focus.” According to Cook, these include “privacy and security, education,” “advocating for human rights for everyone,” “the environment and really combating climate change” and “creating jobs” — i.e., nothing as mundane as money.

But in the third paragraph, Cook acknowledged, “We have other things that are more business-centric — like tax reform.”

Here’s what Cook’s vague description meant: Apple wants a huge tax cut, and Trump has promised to deliver one that would save the company about $40 billion to $50 billion....

https://theintercept.com/2016/12/22/apple-ceo-tim-cook-met-with-trump-to-engage-on-gigantic-corporate-tax-cut/

https://techcrunch.com/2016/12/19/tim-cook-explains-to-apple-employees-why-he-met-with-president-elect-trump/?ncid=rss

good ol' disruption

the electoral college may have originated as a way to protect from demagogues or foreign influence, but now it's merely a formality and giant gerrymander, and nothing more

― k3vin k., Thursday, December 22, 2016 1:58 PM (twenty minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

It most certainly did not originate as a way to protect from demagogues or foreign influence.

well yeah it actually was to increase the political power of slave states, which it still does, but that was the high-minded rationale at least iirc

President-elect Donald Trump named the senior staff of the communications department for his administration on Thursday, including Republican National Committee spokesman Sean Spicer as press secretary.

Trump's transition team announced that in addition to Spicer, Hope Hicks will serve as director of strategic communications; Jason Miller will serve as director of communications; and Dan Scavino will serve as social media director.

Hope Hicks seems like one of the very first Trump hires who seemed out of her element on day 1.

http://dailyentertainmentnews.com/wpgo/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Hope-Hicks-bio.jpg

she's like some innocent child they stole from a mall and brainwashed

im sure she was in no way hired for her looks either

ok hold up

Read that as John Miller at first
xxxxpost

folks if i announce i'm taking a break from this thread do you promise to make fun of me if i post here again in the next ~week? because good god do i need a break from this thread.

everyone needs a break. it'll probably slow down soon anyway due to christmas and NYE and whatnot

Has there been a single day in the past six+ months when Trump did not say or do something stupid or alarming?

It was definitely stupid and alarming the day he won the presidency

he was pretty good at it during the last 10 days of the campaign, when his handlers took his phone away from him (lol)

If no phone is around to write a tweet, does it make a sound?

As much as I am enjoying these anonymously sourced stories in a single publication (more or less) about Trump's inability to book any act of consequence for his inauguration, I've been disappointed by the way so few of these imminent humiliations have panned out. Which will make it extra wonderful should this imminent humiliation pan out.

i don't see why kid rock wouldn't do it. he is already selling shirts calling red states 'the united states of america' and blue states 'dumbfuckistan'. maybe he's not an act of consequence these days

Would be even better if a desperate Trump still bumps Kid Rock because you know... it's Kid Rock.