US Politics, March 2020 — There’s a very good chance you’re not going to die.

fighting terrorism? why are they even asking that anymore?

tbf After literally years of being a total confrontational asshole, toning things down and conducting long, daily press conferences is by definition an improvement, even if he's still a stupid asshole. So yeah, I'm not surprised his numbers are not tanking. I can't wait for this to be over and his rallies to resume for him to boast that while other countries had tens of thousands of deaths, he managed to keep our deaths down to mere thousands, like a hero.

Lol Harris is an extreme outlier poll, if you look at polls from the same date range on 538 it's like 9 points higher than most polls, six higher than Rasmussen. Nate handicaps them with a 4% Republican lean

Americans have a storied tradition of rallying around presidents, no matter how pustulant, in times of crisis. No surprise if his numbers increase.

The Trump years are going to turn me into a full-blown nihilist yet.

Just use that anger to defeat him in November

The Burr story, which was one of the three leads on the CNN page, is nowhere that I can see right now--not on the front page, not on the politics or business page (they don't have a crime section). Unless I'm missing it. I hope I am. (I'm not trying the downplay the main story...if they're even separate.)

Breaking!

The Senate Intelligence Committee chairman, who had expressed confidence in the country’s preparedness for the coronavirus outbreak, sold a significant share of his stocks last month, according to public disclosures.

Burr said he relied solely on public news reports on the sales but asked the chairman of Senate Ethics Committee for a complete review.
This is a developing story. It will be updated.

yeah my hope is that this is gonna be like GWB where the upcoming months will reveal what a disaster this really was and cause people to turn against him en masse as people start losing their jobs and dying, though we've never seen anything like the Trump cult of personality before

sure we have, just not in America

And not counting Manson, Jones, etc.

Koresh for Prez

There was definitely a smell in the air towards the end of Obama's presidency. People were rallying around bullshit folk hero types like Cliven Bundy, Kim Davis, and Ron Paul.

There was definite unrest after same-sex marriage ban was lifted, and ACA was upheld by SCOTUS.and well also after a Black president got elected twice, of course.

Trump road a convenient current of fear that came about in the wake of several, high profile terrorist attacks/spree shootings in the US that all occurred in a short window.

Boston Marathon bombings stirred up racist, anti-Islam sentiment, as did Pulse (even though that guy's connections to Islamic terror were questionable). He just said the racist thing the other candidates were thinking but wouldn't say.

Definitely following in Reagan's footsteps re: ignoring an epidemic

maaaaaaybe it’s Too Soon, but I feel like an effective opposition front-runner would be making hay right now. Instead we have a guy who in normal circumstances would have his keys taken away

We have a candidate eating hay rn

The opposition front-runner is demanding that companies pledge not to blow their profits on stock buyback to reward rich investors as a condition of getting bailed out, that is a certain amount of hay

Re: approval rating. People seem to actually think Trump is doing a good job/not doing a stinker re this virus (see also thraed of controv opinions). I can't get my head around this.

The US hasn't been that badly hit. Yet. If that changes, his numbers should come down.

I want someone to describe to me a hypothetical scenario that would be politically good for Democrats. Because everything, literally everything, from the most grotesque Republican scandals to major Democratic victories, end up being evidence Democrats suck. https://t.co/eM3U8H6MK2

— Staying inside to own the virus (@agraybee) March 20, 2020

murc’s law remains a brilliant insight into how we create and process narrative in this country

fighting terrorism? why are they even asking that anymore?

Because Guatemalan 9-year-olds are basically terrorists donchaknow

lmao of course they'd use this framing

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ETjuU4TUwAAS_1q?format=png&name=large

The NYT made sure to mention Feinstein as well. It seems she sold when the stock was unusually low. Murc.

btw it is ridiculously irresponsible for the news networks to air these press conferences

So there was a flurry of reports last night based on cursory reviews of senators who, it appeared, may have engaged in suspect stock transactions similar to Burr and Loeffler. I don't think the ones that I've seen hold up. I'll take them one by one

— Lachlan Markay (@lachlan) March 20, 2020

Can we all shut up about his Burr story until such time as he is in handcuffs and/or has resigned (neither of which will ever happen)? This is the dumbest story, goes on all the time in congress (with members of both parties I'm sure), and is a waste of fucking breath given the general climate of white collar legal enforcement.

it "goes on all the time in Congress" because for a while it wasn't actually illegally.

have you forgotten Chris Collins already?

*illegal

The Burr story is incredibly abhorrent and not at all what goes on all the time.

It's not the stock sale that makes this so terrible, it's doing it while willfully misleading the public about the immanent danger that puts it on a whole other level.

Can we all shut up about his Burr story until such time as he is in handcuffs and/or has resigned (neither of which will ever happen)? This is the dumbest story, goes on all the time in congress (with members of both parties I'm sure), and is a waste of fucking breath given the general climate of white collar legal enforcement.

This is quite possibly the dumbest thing I've ever read on one of these politics threads.

He realized something horrible was going to happen. That people would die. That the market would crash. He told people behind closed doors. He sold his stock. But he kept on saying things were going great in public, because Trump was saying so. That is so horrifying.

This is a great example how 'they are all monsters!' mostly helps hide what is actually monstrous.

reposting an agraybee tweet well-actuallying jamelle freaking bouie. a new level of resistanceholing, even for alfred

xxxxxp Ahem, I had in fact forgotten about Chris Collins. Still skeptical anything is going to happen to the Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

It's not the stock sale that makes this so terrible, it's doing it while willfully misleading the public about the immanent danger that puts it on a whole other level.

― Mario Meatwagon (Moodles), Friday, March 20, 2020 11:17 AM (three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

^^^^^^^

I don't care about a Senator getting rich by unethical means because that's been a longstanding tradition in American politics, on both sides of the aisle I might add. But we are increasingly finding out that taking this seriously in January as opposed to now (when it's totally out of control) may have wound up potentially saving hundreds of thousands of lives & millions of jobs, and if the people in charge took the opportunity to make themselves rich instead then it should quite literally be treated as a crime against humanity

This is kinda besides the point, but I don't think it made them rich, right? They just avoided a loss, they didn't short the stock? It doesn't make it any less horrifying in my book, though

The right thing would be for them to donate any realized gains (which I am sure they have) from each of those sales. This is what most financial institutions make employees do when some violates a trade rule for their personal accounts. But also, they should never have been able to trade single name stocks in their accounts if they had the ability to direct trades.

petty bitch time. Trump just wants to mention DIane Feinstein.

going to to never stop loling when she’s the only one who gets shit for this

Her sale looks somewhat more innocuous

all while Loeffler’s notoriety will just to skyrocket her to 2024 GOP candidate short list

Her sale looks somewhat more innocuous

A blind trust, you won't even get confirmations about the transactions or statements. You have no clue what is in it.

I’m laughably ignorant when it comes to these matters. Is it a legal designation?

And I take it that the Trump Org declined to do so?

My experience with blind trusts, albeit indirect, is that the trustee is usually someone with whom the grantor has a longstanding personal/professional relationship. So if you get together with the trustee for other purposes it is not that hard to have an in-person conversation (if they are smart) and make any necessary decisions regarding the trust assets. ,Not to mention the possible use of intermediaries known to both parties. It might not be as seamless or provide as quick response to market changes, but I am highly skeptical that the grantor has no ability to transmit decisions that need to be made.

And my indirect experience is with a blind trust involving a politician.

The Burr story is incredibly abhorrent and not at all what goes on all the time.
― Frederik B, Friday, March 20, 2020 12:15 PM (one hour ago)

It's not the stock sale that makes this so terrible, it's doing it while willfully misleading the public about the immanent danger that puts it on a whole other level.
― Mario Meatwagon (Moodles), Friday, March 20, 2020 12:17 PM (one hour ago)

This also seems beyond the pale to me.

Like if the assets in the blind trust were owned by you immediately prior to taking office, and the invested assets were managed (both before and after the trust) by someone you have known for 30 years, and the trustee is someone both you and your investment manager have known for 30 years, do I have to connect the dots . . .

serious question: why isn't Joe Biden holding daily press conferences to establish himself as an executive option, correcting WH narrative, etc.?

Are they legit hiding him for fear of gaffes? This seems like the most softball move imaginable. It's sitting there on a plate.