US Politics, October 2019 — I guess statement you could say with thread. I made a thread. The thread was PERFECT.

I think Trump may be losing the moron vote in AZ tho. Saw a jeep the other day that had this scrawled on it: "SICK OF 45. TRUMP HAS NO DIGNITITY"

got to bag it up

Haha

I wish it was 50/50, but red state governments have been in overdrive with voter purges and other forms of voter suppression. The amount of corporate anti-Warren or anti-Sanders advertising will be enormous.

This will help them keep the Senate, but Trump has only his die hard fan base and he no longer gets the benefit of the doubt about how he will act as president. Unlike the last election, which was a referendum on maintaining the Obama status quo under a less-likeable politically-damaged candidate, this election will be a referendum on Trump's first term, no matter how hard the right wing machinery tries to make it about anything else. They'll sell 'fear of the Democrat' as hard as they possibly can, but the only eager buyers for that will be the 35% to 40% who consistently approve of Trump.

Mainly, the democrat has to look reasonably attractive and sane, and have a hell of a good GOTV organization. Unless Trump causes a reverse-coattails landslide, I doubt the Democrats will get the Senate, but they sure as hell need to try.

got to bag it up

irl inadvertent snort

Once you grasp that a sizeable portion of the country will absolutely HATE whatever Democrats get into office and consider all of their policy proposals as treason or a sure-fire catastrophe (even when they are retread Republican proposals), then the next step is realizing you need to play McConnell-style hardball, ram through whatever bills you can, and be willing to run on the results. There's no better alternative.

perhaps worth noting that McConnell has been unable to "ram through" literally *any* legislation. To do so he (or the Dems) would need to gut the filibuster.

(a measure I support fwiw)

I generally have a pretty sunny outlook. My most defeatist/pessimistic thought is that there may always be 30-49% of the electorate who hates the president's guts. It'll just be a different 30-49%. Perhaps that will become the new normal: a pendulum swinging back and forth forever.

Further, I wouldn't be too surprised if every time you have a House majority of the opposite party from the president you will see impeachment rumblings begin on inauguration day.

My more optimistic side does still kinda cling to the notion that a lot of the teahadis / MAGA chuds are pretty old and pretty white. While the electorate of the future will still be full of problematic mofos, those particular problematic mofos will gradually recede from the picture.

"SICK OF 45. TRUMP HAS NO DIGNITITY"

November thread title imo

DIGNITITY

His inauguration numbers were low bc he ran the most scabrous and contemptible campaign ever. He should jave gotten less popular from there but he hasn’t.

Why? He's still the same guy those people voted for. Anyone dumb enough to believe he was gonna have Mexico fund a wall is also dumb enough to believe that the only reason why he can't is because of Deep State or the fact that the swamp hasn't been fully drained yet. They don't care about the racism (in fact, they love it), they don't give a shit that he lies (who cares, FAKE NEWS CNN does it!!!), and they love that liberals get massively triggered by his brain trying to escape through his ears. Only thing that's gonna move the needle is a recession, or perhaps another unwinnable war.

perhaps worth noting that McConnell has been unable to "ram through" literally *any* legislation. To do so he (or the Dems) would need to gut the filibuster.

― Οὖτις, Tuesday, October 8, 2019 1:09 PM (seventeen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

he's been saving his ramming for the judiciary

yeah but the thing about the judiciary is its a rearguard action, filling the courts with rightwing apparatchiks is a strategy to get legislation blocked/overturned - but what the Dems need is actual legislation passed: on climate change, healthcare, taxes etc. Dems adopting McConnell's strategy will not in and of itself allow them to achieve any goals.

he did abolish the filibuster on supreme court noms

Dems will need to be similarly aggressive with the SC (court packing etc.)

President Dem needs to ram through 7 justices

10-15 just to make a point imo

Buttigieg has a plan for that iirc.

"No way, that's how they got Nixon," is an airtight defense that raises zero eyebrows. https://t.co/XVCx1IhDw3

— Cody Johnston (@drmistercody) October 8, 2019

"Wow, O.K.," responded U.S. Chief District Judge Beryl A. Howell of Washington, D.C., sounding unpersuaded. "As I said, the department is taking an extraordinary position in this case."

— Spencer Hsu (@hsu_spencer) October 8, 2019

Trump team really doesn't get that their reasoning sounds like utter nonsense to anyone with the smallest shred of professionalism.

loyalty first, professionalism...tbd

"Wow, O.K." better be next month's thread title

the only good thing about this administration is the promise of ever better thread titles every day

we should be having daily threads to capture them all

They don't care about the racism (in fact, they love it)

they don't like racism
oh no
they love it

The Washington Post reports:

Rudy Giuliani said Tuesday that he would not testify in front of the House Intelligence Committee and that he “can’t imagine” that anyone from the Trump administration would appear before the panel led by Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) either.

“The position I’m stating is now the position of the administration,” Giuliani said in an interview in which he revealed that the administration has written a letter that will be released soon saying that Schiff’s committee is illegitimate.

“I wouldn’t testify in front of that committee until there is a vote of Congress and he [Schiff] is removed,” Giuliani said, referring to Republican calls for a full House vote on an impeachment inquiry and the removal of Schiff as the committee’s chairman.

We are seeing the way injustice unfolds in the streets and in our homes, as people like Botham Jean are shot in their own apartments by the police. Despite a conviction, the light sentence in comparison to the much longer terms typically given to Black and brown people evidences what little value this country’s “justice” system places on people of color. As water protectors face 110 years in prison for protecting Indigenous rights, we remain resolute in our conviction that this police and prison system has no place in a socialist future.

We do not believe that the mere impeachment of Trump will address these injustices. It will not improve the lives of millions of working class people who make enormous sacrifices just to make ends meet. Though this fight was started by “the squad,” as Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, and Rashida Tlaib have come to be known, their calls for impeachment had long been ignored by the political elite until one of their own was targeted by the Trump administration’s agenda. As such, we don’t believe the impeachment process will do anything to bring working class people into the political process.

Only people powered movements can do that, and we believe change is coming.

https://www.dsausa.org/statements/dsa-national-political-committee-npc-statement-on-impeachment/

*golf clap*

That's nice, children. Run back and play in your room.

As such, we don’t believe the impeachment process will do anything to bring working class people into the political process.

...you don't say?

The DSA should stick to chapter-by-chapter efforts to fix local problems and build their organization that way. Opining on national issues when they have no national power base is ridiculous and makes them look like assholes. Go win some school board elections.

suck on it

We know that both Nancy Pelosi and Trump are a part of this ruling elite. Though they might find themselves at odds now, in the end they will both be against the demands of the working class and any platform that unites them.

bravely standing idly by

Morbs COINTELPRO Bot 2000(TM)

violating the norms of traditional diplomacy, who coulda guessed

The New York Times reports:

A White House official who listened to President Trump’s July phone call with Ukraine’s leader described it as “crazy,” “frightening,” and “completely lacking in substance related to national security,” according to a memo written by the whistle-blower at the center of the Ukraine scandal, a C.I.A. officer who spoke to the White House official.

The White House official was “visibly shaken by what had transpired,” the C.I.A. officer wrote in his memo, one day after Mr. Trump pressured President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine in a July 25 phone call to open investigations that would benefit him politically.

A palpable sense of concern had already taken hold among at least some in the White House that the call had veered well outside the bounds of traditional diplomacy, the officer wrote.

oh NO has this strong leader veered OUTSIDE THE BOUNDS of traditional DIPLOMACY?? *faints*

Thanks to you jerks I now have both "No Diggity" and "Dreadlock Holiday" stuck in my head.

Tbf they deployed boobs to keep the audience engaged

Lol wrong thread

Or is it?

wrong type of boob

> pretty adamant that Arizona was purple

Kyrsten Sinema took her Senate oath of office on a copy of the Constitution, rather than the Bible. I believe they would lynch a red state senator for that...

Trey Gowdy is one of the outside lawyers the WH has reached out to. Really getting the best defense you can possibly find there.

Also, w/r/t their refusal to cooperate because it's illegitimate; not that I think the House ncessarily needs to heed the WH here, but why don't they just hold the vote and move forward? That will get rid of that excuse.

how is it possible that passing the bar exam is a difficult thing when complete morons like Trey Gowdy and Guiliani were able to do it

Arizona is frequently talked about as the likeliest red state (as in, a state that's been red for 20+ years) to move into the blue column in 2020.

Larry Sabato rates it as a toss-up, along with Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

[Also, w/r/t their refusal to cooperate because it's illegitimate; not that I think the House ncessarily needs to heed the WH here, but why don't they just hold the vote and move forward? That will get rid of that excuse.

I was wondering about this earlier, but assumed it was because Congress is still in recess

Also, w/r/t their refusal to cooperate because it's illegitimate; not that I think the House ncessarily needs to heed the WH here, but why don't they just hold the vote and move forward? That will get rid of that excuse.

Subtext: Republicans want a vote on impeachment or impeachment inquiry as soon as possible because poll numbers are moving away from Trump and they want to lock in a high-water vote total. Democrats want to wait because numbers are moving in their favor and want a higher # later.

— Jonathan Allen (@jonallendc) October 8, 2019

time to start arresting people

White House just sent eight-page scorching letter to Pelosi and Democrats saying they will not be cooperating with impeachment inquiry, attacking Schiff & calling inquiry a bid to overturn 2016 election, per copy seen by Post. Signed by chief White House counsel Pat Cipollone.

— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) October 8, 2019

xxp so they want Schiff removed from the committee? that won't happen