US Politics, June 2020 — You have to dominate.

Well yeah.

"The Aristocrats!" would also have been an acceptable answer.

Episcopal bishop in DC doing many TV hits today about the Clown's blasphemy last night

.@secPompeo meets with Tiananmen Square survivors at 2:30 pm today, per @StateDept. pic.twitter.com/XlLdyxlfPg

— Matt Lee (@APDiploWriter) June 2, 2020

timing

just wanted to say sorry in retrospect for pushing "You Have to Dominate" for thread title...i made the same mistake of jumping the gun that I'd called out the OP for...if we'd just waited another few hours, we could have had "It's A Bible" instead. everyone can enjoy that.

I'll read KM's Atlantic piece. I think sometimes I find Pence more disgusting than Trump, in the same way that, as a teacher, I'd be more upset with a bright grade 6 student who'd create some needless drama in the class than I would with a kid who had real behaviour issues--who couldn't help himself. I'd better add the usual disclaimer: do no, in any way, take that as justification for anything Trump does, I'm just talking about the two of them solely in relation to each other.

"do not"

"Um, deploying the U.S. military inside the U.S. is still kind of a no-no, last time I checked."

I believe this was done at Standing Rock, not to mention Wounded Knee in the 70's.

My only cavil, clem, with your otherwise spot-on remark: your sixth grade student is the bright one, not Pence.

As representative and governor, Pence's career has been marked by a cruelty under the carapace of the slimiest kind of evangelism.

Also he’s a massive closet case. “Happy Pride month, Mother!”

the Clown

Okay now I am picturing a lushly filmed Netflix drama.

Credit sequence is of a hideous orange hair-weave monstrosity slowly assembling (like the credit sequences of The Crown, Game of Thrones, Westworld, and Vinyl).

Season one: Armie Hammer (heavily CGI'd) plays young Trump, learning the ropes of redlining and shafting contractors from Dad (played, I guess, by Alan Arkin?).

Season two: Jason Segel plays young-adult Trump, with Miley Cyrus as Marla and Milana Vayntrub as Ivana.

Season three: Okay, let's just push the easy button and fuckin go with Alec Baldwin. Melissa Villasenor IS Melania.

Season four (aka "Lion in Winter") is, like, I dunno, Alan Arkin again as an aging, raging, incontinent Trump, yelling at the TV in a bathrobe.

(xposts) Actually thought about adding a second disclaimer pointing out exactly that--that I don't consider Pence the equivalent of a bright sixth grader...He's definitely far more religious than I would like, but basically the comparison for me boils down to he's more or less a bland, generic Republican in relation to Trump, and that he oughta know better. Maybe I'm wrong, but if he were president, I don't think things would be completely off the rails like they are now.

xp to Suzy: As the person who coined the word "gaydar," I guess you'd know.

LOL - the Pence Closet has been DC gossip for as long as 45 has been in office.

I'm well aware. It's kind of hackneyed at this point.

As far as potential symbolic victories go, is there any chance Steve King loses his seat tonight?

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/farce-tragedy-and-photo-op

...What became clear was that the presidential remarks and driving off the crowd were timed to coincide to create a presidential photo op or what is probably best seen as a cartoonish but choreographed reality TV event. The plan was for the President to give his short speech with explosive concussions in the background and tear gas in the air followed by the President walking over to the ground just cleared of protestors to make a symbolic visit to St. John’s Episcopal Church where he would hold ostentatiously hold up a bible. The slight shifts in schedule were to make sure the timing was just right.

Within hours, his campaign released staged photos of the proceedings.

A short time later it emerged that the owners of the Church, the Episcopal Diocese of Washington hadn’t been informed or asked whether their Church would be used as a prop in what amounted to an ersatz white Christian nationalist photo op. But federal officers – police or military isn’t clear – actually forcibly expelled a priest from the Church grounds with tear gas.

It was a set-piece tableau of Trumpism, a visual demonstration of the dominance Trump demands but usually shrinks from personally. You protestors were on this literal ground. I commanded force against you and now I am on the same ground holding a bible aloft in victory.

Thankfully, it doesn’t appear there was any loss of life in this staged incident or I think any major injuries. But like so much of Trumpism it manages to bring together with a unique crudity the mix of rightist nationalism and TV production which is the heart of Trumpism – a loud red hat with gleaming white lettering of state violence. Nothing more captures the man than holding a Christian bible in the air as a sort of dominance talisman after driving priests out of a church where they were tending to the needs of peaceful protestors. Much as he bogarted tax payer money for use as campaign funds in extortion plot against the government of Ukraine here he turned the US military and federal police on peaceful protestors for what was in the final analysis a planned campaign event.

https://i.imgur.com/qEXqqPP.png
https://i.imgur.com/LqfUVrn.png
https://i.imgur.com/aeTDaSH.jpg

I can't quite figure this out, does the US actually have a functioning government right now? That passes laws and stuff? Or is it just a scorched earth retreat?

One half of the government was trying to block Congress from remote voting on bills. Three guesses who!

yeah we're still confirming a dozen hardline right-winger judges every day so some part of it is working

As predicted, he's claiming victory. Pretty sure many citizens don't feel victorious rn, particularly our own MN residents.

He left his rage for NYC

D.C. had no problems last night. Many arrests. Great job done by all. Overwhelming force. Domination. Likewise, Minneapolis was great (thank you President Trump!).

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 2, 2020

Fucking sick

fucking asshole, i hope he dies

Trump’s response here is going to leave lasting damage. His presidency is like 9/11 - the bad energy will reverberate for a long, long time

Getting Travis Bickle vibes from his tweet about NYC 'lowlifes and losers'.

The Governor refuses to accept my offer of a dominating National Guard. NYC was ripped to pieces. Likewise, Fredo’s ratings are down 50%!

A Godfather reference two sentences after making an offer that was refused. WEAK!

https://thehill.com/homenews/news/500642-residents-clash-before-police-arrive-in-philadelphia-neighborhood

Oh look "Antifa" at it again and weirdly acting out Trumpian fantasies

literally, Christafuck

Pelosi asked about Trump’s Bible photo op last night. She goes and grabs her own bible and is now reading from it. pic.twitter.com/F64v4JFBH6

— Heather Caygle (@heatherscope) June 2, 2020

OUR GOD IS A MIGHTY GOD

No one stepped up to convincingly claim it, so I can’t put all the blame on Pelosi, but it sure would have been nice if the political leaders who are busy confronting their own mortal demise due to being very old would have “passed the baton” to younger leadership that is in touch with the country

*cough*Jayapal*cough*

if i remember correctly, the most successful challenger to pelosi's throne was fucking tim ryan

the new litmus test for american political leadership:

without asking an intern to do it for you, can you successfully set up an automatic Out of Office message for your email

remember, decaying leadership: you are allowed to type "how to set up automatic out of office message for my email" into google.com in order to find the answer if you don't know how to do it

Idk politicians should flush the Bible down the toilet tbh

google.com is a search engine. you need to go on the internet and type it into the big spot at the top where you can type

Remember when our biggest enemies were Bobby Jindal

it's pretty obvious by now that Pelosi is good at some aspects of her job, like organizing her caucus, while being fucking terrible at the part where she's the de facto face and voice of the entire party.

nooo---- nonono don't click the picture of the home insurance trick that obama doesn't want you to know about---fuck, it's too late

would have “passed the baton” to younger leadership that is in touch with the country

likely Rahm Emanuel and his Zionist hoodlum clan didn't return their calls though

my best friend lives in Philly and works for WHYY, he sent me Jon Ehren's stuff about Fishtown as it was happening. glad it got some attention.

it's pretty obvious by now that Pelosi is good at some aspects of her job, like organizing her caucus, while being fucking terrible at the part where she's the de facto face and voice of the entire party.

― Evans on Hammond (evol j), Tuesday, June 2, 2020 11:25 AM (fourteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I think "public relations" for members of Congress used to just mean cultivating relationships with the press. In other words, it was never that public: It was about calling up reporters and feeding them stories and talking points. But the current media environment demands a much more direct approach. Younger pols like AOC get this. Many older ones do not, or seem uncomfortable with it.

it's pretty obvious by now that Pelosi is good at some aspects of her job, like organizing her caucus, while being fucking terrible at the part where she's the de facto face and voice of the entire party.

For better or for worse, that's Joe Biden as soon as he's the nominee, and to some extent right now.

xp to jaymc

yeah. to use a tiresome phrase, she has trouble "thinking on her feet" these days. there was a time when statements were prepared and delivered as part of a communications strategy which politicians could somewhat control. now, an effective politician needs to be able to say something powerful (or at the bare minimum make a coherent point) at a moment's notice, in situations that are out of their control

cool

House Dems had an emotional caucus call today with some members crying as they spoke.

They agree that they need a bold response and quickly. But exactly what that is is up for debate.

Dems will talk again Thursday, w/ the call being entirely devoted to this discussion. https://t.co/nvevIM3nmQ

— Heather Caygle (@heatherscope) June 2, 2020

that is cool, actually

I just think - maybe the bold response should get figured out before Thursday? Things are happening pretty fast.

sure. but it the purpose of the meeting is to develop legislation, that's gonna take time to pass anyway (especially considering that if it's decent legislation, mcconnell and trump won't let it pass)