US Politics, February 2020. They want to kill your cows.

will be a party that caters to that in foreseeable future

feel like a broken record but the problem doesn't stem from Trump or from GOP, but from the millions of fuckers who vote them into office

One side has decided to win by breaking the game, and will use any illegal or irregular method (propaganda, abuse of power, stacking courts, destroying the administrative state, voter caging and purging) to get that done.

The other side wants to both play the game and win the game, by election. I’m not sure it’s possible.

As Bitecofer says, Republicans know they are playing “for keeps.” This is correct.

Who here thinks the house should impeach the MF again? I mean, he clearly didn't learn any lessons and is back to committing crimes. I get that it's basically pointless (the Senate seems hell-bent on endless Trump fellatio), but the alternative ("wait until November") seems irresponsible.

Yeah, impeach him every time he crimes imo. It's not like any other major governing can get done by Congress this year.

that ~44% of the country that's ruled by fear and paranoia, the Dunning-Kruger types, the simpletons who want simple solutions to complex problems, etc

Like I kinda said in that post, Trump has been a case not just of handing the bell to the dogs, but effectively transforming the broadcast news media into a PA system for the bell, and playing MAX/MSP loops of the bell all day.

No other individual is going to be able to replace that blast of hate/fear as effectively. It's very likely that micro-Trumps will do well in deep Republican constituencies, but it's also likely that this will decrease party unity. Even a fraction of Trump's self-interest, let alone his narcissism, will make it very hard for these types to effectively caucus. I'd expect to see a lot of these types succeeding as independents after Trump: his rally-attending-type base want the reckless buffoon figure, they don't want the nonentities subsuming themselves to him.

i don't think re-impeaching is politically a great idea. doing it once was necessary, and showed that republicans will countenance anything at all; more attempts seem likely to gain nothing but further firing up magans

if they wanna go after barr, or actually get bolton under oath, tho . . .

I hope you're right, and you're analysis and predictions are as good as any. But I'm v skeptical of all predictions about US politics. Trump becoming prez was a punchline until it happened.

I got burned in 2016 and trying not to get hopes up too much but I do think Donnie gets beat in Nov. Grinning just thinking about it.

Did anyone even notice that this happened? lol

https://www.npr.org/2020/02/12/798296505/deval-patrick-ends-his-presidential-bid

if they wanna go after barr, or actually get bolton under oath, tho . . .

Yeah / hell yeah

the alternative ("wait until November") seems irresponsible.

Pelosi only trusted the people to object to "national security" crimes. She doesn't care enough about the other kinds, or trust that the people will be absorbed by her inept messaging.

Seemed more like she was concerned about election security... because it affected Biden.

One reason I don’t think the GOP will be able to replicate Trump is simply because it’s got to be impossible to find someone with that much fucking baggage, who draws that much criticism every time he opens his mouth, therefore validating their message of “the mainstream media hates us and that’s why they have to lie all the time”, while the actual media decides they also have to go equally negative on the other side to appear balanced, leading to a situation where stories about their guy defrauding old people, sexually assaulting dozens of women, and stealing from charity are all one day stories that are quickly forgotten while a relatively minor story about say, improper email use suddenly becomes a giant scandal that eats up thousands of hours of airtime. No one else on the planet is dirty and shameless enough to pull that off.

maybe Steven Forbes will run again

gotta admit, i'm intrigued by his flat tax. imagine billionaires paying a 17% tax instead of using loopholes to pay 0%, wow!

Remember when Steven Forbes hosted SNL?

not making it up: https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/season-21/episode/17-steve-forbes-with-rage-against-the-machine-63781

You kinda buried the 'with musical guests Rage Against the Machine' lede there.

Good morning!

during their performance of "Bulls On Parade", the band hung an upside-down American flag on one of their amplifiers, in protest of Forbes hosting.

Afterwards, a very angry Lorne Michaels chased the band out of the studio, resulting in them being banned from the show.

lol I saw that episode live, I think I was 12 years old and obviously had no clue who Steve Forbes was

iirc he brings up the "flat tax" during his monologue and even at 12 I thought that was the dumbest idea on the planet

that reminds me wasn't one of Trump's big talking points that you'd be able to file your taxes on a postcard or something? whatever happened to that

Liberals shut down the postcard industry

the skit about the Teeve Torbes novel was pretty good

I think we can forgive President Trump his one declaration that didn't pan out.

On page 142, he writes: “I don’t think Grenator Dole is handling the pressure very well.” [ confused ] “Grenator”? I don’t know why the author felt he had to disguise the word “Senator”.. Anyway, he goes on to say: “Today, Dob Bole leaned over to me, and said, ‘If family values means stealing the taxpayers’ money and sniffing model glue, I’m way into family values!'”

John Kelly has Thoughts

Misgivings! Goodness me.

what's his excuse for not garroting Trump when he had the chance

Hope Hicks coming back to help change trump’s diapers

Reminds me of the time the garbage disposal obliterated my hand and then after the stump had healed I jammed that fucker right back in.

Spicer and Priebus back too

The self-loathing is strong with these ones.

How many times do you have to get a fistful of fishhooks removed from your stomach before you learn that swallowing a fistful of fishhooks is oh wait, you're doing that because you wish you were dead and don't know how to make that happen, you poor thing.

This should be fun.

Barr pushes back against Trump’s criticism of Justice Dept., says tweets ‘make it impossible for me to do my job’

By Devlin Barrett and Matt Zapotosky
Feb. 13, 2020 at 3:34 p.m. CST

Attorney General William P. Barr pushed back hard Thursday against President Trump’s criticism of the Justice Department, saying, “I’m not going to be bullied or influenced by anybody.”

In an interview with ABC News, Barr said presidential statements and tweets “about the department, about people in the department, our men and women here, about cases pending here, and about judges before whom we have cases, make it impossible for me to do my job and to assure the courts and the prosecutors and the department that we’re doing our work with integrity.”

The attorney general’s comments are almost certain to anger the president, who has heaped criticism on some current and former Justice Department officials over prosecutions and investigations involving the president’s former associates and alleged leaking by government officials. Barr said he was prepared to accept the consequences of speaking out against the president.

“I cannot do my job here at the department with a constant background commentary that undercuts me,” the attorney general said. He also noted that when he became attorney general last year, he pledged to resist intimidation from any quarter, whether Congress, the White House, or elsewhere.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/barr-pushes-back-against-trumps-criticism-of-justice-dept-says-tweets-make-it-impossible-for-me-to-do-my-job/2020/02/13/7ff5f308-4e7c-11ea-9b5c-eac5b16dafaa_story.html

lmao

“I’m not going to be bullied or influenced by anybody.”

Fuck Barr. He's just play-acting the role he knows Congress wants to see from him, while his actions will continue to roll over to Trump every goddamned time.

I'm sure he got Trump's permission to say this first, 100% kayfabe

maybe. the people in the administration tend to eventually get fed up. unlike the republicans in congress, who i guess are far away enough to continue to act like all is good.

I know this is exhausting to most of you but it is still funny that Trump ran on hiring "only the best people" and "draining the swamp" and now has to attack his own hires and make excuses for not firing them sooner about once a month

lol

This Barr interview is DeNiro in Goodfellas yelling at Johnny Roastbeef for buying his wife a Cadillac after the Lufthansa heist.

— Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) February 13, 2020

Hahaha

It'll be great if the thing that takes down Barr is being slightly rude to Trump in an interview

Of course (as WaPo pointed out yesterday) Trump excoriated Obama for inappropriately trying to influence the DoJ in 2016.

narrator: this is surprising no one, and changes nothing, but still

OMG that tweet.

"I didn't do it, and who cares if I did?" Every time!

“The President has never asked me to do anything in a criminal case.” A.G. Barr This doesn’t mean that I do not have, as President, the legal right to do so, I do, but I have so far chosen not to!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 14, 2020

What is this tic that drives him to keep arguing the legality of his actions or potential actions? We all know you don't give a fuck, Donnie! And we all know that you don't give a fuck if we give a fuck! While you're in office, you're going to do whatever you're going to do and you're going to get away with it! I don't know why he's so obsessed with providing a pretext.

(burns down White House) No, but see, I'm president, so I'm allowed. Perfectly legal!

What is this tic that drives him to keep arguing the legality of his actions or potential actions?

it means a) I have already done this and b) by stating that I think it's legal you cannot claim that I knew I was breaking the law

I just mean that he flagrantly and joyfully breaks the law and he's been given a free pass to do so and the opinions of people who oppose that behavior don't matter to him and will have no impact on his decision to do so. Why bother with those appeals at all under those circumstances.