"The August 2020 US Politics Thread is highly thought of, but nobody likes me. It can only be my personality. That's all."

should be "don't"

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves knows masks are a hard sell in his state, so he hits Mississippians right where they live, college football. then he throws in some self-pity just to show he's really one of them.

Look, I want to hasten the demise of my elderly and infirm loved ones as much as anyone...but maybe we should start thinking about what's best for the football.

That Chris Hayes pod was pretty good, one part that rang true is how Republicans have basically had nothing to do since Reagan so the “us vs. them” aspect is all they really have left

The reason that Trump flails around so much when asked what he plans to do in a 2nd term is 100% stupidity end ignorance. A good portion of it is just an utter lack of any Republican governing priorities.

That should say *isn't 100%

Posting and drinking...

classic

My specialty

Trump's latest interview vs monty python parrot sketch pic.twitter.com/GKlpNF4ffB

— Darren Dutton (@Darren_Dutton) August 4, 2020

💥An earthquake win for the left's quest to expand its foothold in Congress in Missouri.

Cori Bush, a pastor and Ferguson activist, has ousted 20-year incumbent Rep. Lacy Clay in #MO01 primary. Bush is virtually certain to win in November & join Congress.

— Taniel (@Taniel) August 5, 2020

Missouri!! That’s where Star-Lord is from.

Clay and Clay's father a combined 52 years in office

also MO voted for medicaid expansion you love to see it

Cori Bush is a badass! This is amazing news!

very exciting!

Was pointed out that Kobach losing (again! and again!) in Kansas probably rules out the Dems picking up a seat in that red meat state, but since Kansas wasn't even considered a real possibility that seat would always have been an election bonus had it somehow gone blue.

Last I saw that pos Sheriff Joe was, incredibly, neck and neck to get the nom again in Arizona.

Was pointed out that Kobach losing (again! and again!) in Kansas probably rules out the Dems picking up a seat in that red meat state

on the bright side, this means Peter Thiel spunked a load of cash up the wall for absolutely nothing

At least four people who have been active in Republican politics are linked to Kanye West’s attempt to get on the presidential ballot this year. The connection raises questions about the aims of the entertainer’s effort and whether it is regarded within the G.O.P. as a spoiler campaign that could aid President Trump, even as those close to Mr. West have expressed concerns about his mental health as he enters the political arena.

One operative, Mark Jacoby, is an executive at a company called Let the Voters Decide, which has been collecting signatures for the West campaign in three states. Mr. Jacoby was arrested on voter fraud charges in 2008 while he was doing work for the California Republican Party, and he later pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor.

Mr. Jacoby, in a statement, said his company was nonpartisan and worked for all political parties. “We do not comment on any current clients, but like all Americans, anyone who is qualified to stand for election has the right to run,” he said.

New York Magazine reported Monday evening on the campaign’s links to two other people with partisan ties. One is Gregg Keller, the former executive director of the American Conservative Union, who has been listed as a contact for the campaign in Arkansas. Mr. Keller, who did not respond to a message seeking comment, is a Missouri-based strategist. He was under consideration to be Mr. Trump’s campaign manager in 2015, a role that was ultimately filled by Corey Lewandowski, according to a former campaign official.

Huh.

I think the word is “rat fucking”.

The true secret of NIMH.

No one is going to vote for a Black mentally-ill megalomaniac.

Not with that attitude.

I have little doubt that the Republicans think they can split the vote because Republicans take it as an article of faith that “blacks will always vote for the black guy because they are the real racists”.

A left-wing group that opposed Joe Biden in the primaries is launching a six-figure digital campaign aimed at persuading progressive voters in battleground states, especially Bernie Sanders supporters, to cast a ballot for the former vice president.

But don’t expect it to air rose-colored ads about Biden: RootsAction.org, POLITICO has learned, has recruited some of the biggest critics of Biden within the Democratic Party to make an unvarnished case for why they’re voting for him despite their disagreements.

The group said leftist professor Noam Chomsky, former Sanders surrogate Linda Sarsour, ex-Sanders adviser Winnie Wong, longtime Sanders ally RoseAnn DeMoro, Medicare for All advocate Ady Barkan, Code Pink founder Medea Benjamin and ex-Sanders campaign co-chair Rep. Ro Khanna are among those who have signed onto its “#VoteTrumpOut” initiative.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/05/bernie-sanders-group-boosts-joe-biden-391575
The organization’s kickoff video, which stars Chomsky, paints a picture of a world that is under threat by imminent climate disaster and President Donald Trump.

“Another four years of Trump may literally lead us to the stage where the survival of organized human society is deeply imperiled,” Chomsky said in the spot. “It doesn’t matter how I feel. It doesn’t matter whether you like Biden or not. That's your personal feelings, irrelevant, nobody cares about that. What they care about is what happens to the world. We have to get rid of Trump, keep pressure on Biden, just as Sanders and associates have been doing.”

If Never Trumpers like George Conway or Max Boot or whover live in New York, DC, of California? They will not move the dial at all. Golf clap for your participation but I am not exactly moved to organize a parade.

I want to know about the Never Trumpers of North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, etc.

The editor of the Bulwark, a main Never Trumper organ, is Charlie Sykes, who has a very long and prominent career in Wisconsin GOP punditry. There is no question that Trump's support is soft in the traditional Republican power centers of the state (e.g. "crucial Waukesha County") and that's who people like Sykes speak to, and for.

The large majority of those Waukesha Republicans are going to pull the lever for Trump but he definitely runs behind "generic Republican" there and that matters.

it is going to be extremely weird when Lincoln Project types shower praise on chomsky but I guess we've been on this trajectory for a while

yea I tried that pitch to several people I know who traditionally vote Republican but really didn't like Trump - "I know you don't like Hillary, I don't really either, but seriously if this guy wins the entire Republican party is going to be a laughingstock and young people will never trust you again"...in the end I think they all voted Trump anyway, but things are different now. like life maybe wasn't great in 2016 but it was at least stable enough where maybe these folks thought "whatever, give him a chance, maybe a dipshit businessman is what this country needs" and now we're in a situation where things are legitimately terrible, like "worst since the Great Depression" bad and what's worse there's really no end in sight, and any illusions that Trump secretly was remotely competent have all been shattered. of course Biden isn't ideal but I think he's got two legitimate upsides - one, he's not Hillary Clinton, none of the attacks on him are really sticking, and two, the progressive wing doesn't really like him either, which I think gives permission for the soft Republicans to vote for him. like the GOP can run as many "Biden is just Bernie + AOC + Ilhan" ads as they want, does a single person legitimately believe that?

i know at least 2 people who do, but yeah, i don't think nearly many as people are fooled by that as the trump team thinks

fwiw I don't think the progressive wing who promised to sit this out after Bernie lost are gonna abstain either, "this country cannot survive 4 more years of Trump" is looking less and less like hyperbole every day

vote or die

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XB90b8xXYIk

...in the end I think they all voted Trump anyway, but things are different now

Some people, you can't just tell them, "Don't touch that, you'll get burned." You gotta just leave the stove on and walk out of the room and come back three and a half years later and point to the cauterized stump from where they've been repeatedly touching the burner and say, "Told you."

"Biden is just Bernie + AOC + Ilhan" ads as they want, does a single person legitimately believe that?

Millions and millions of people believed it about Hillary Clinton and still do; why would they not believe it about Joe Biden?

took 20 years to get them to believe it about Clinton though

also, Biden has a penis

kindly stop reminding me

That detail may change tho

But don’t expect it to air rose-colored ads about Biden: RootsAction.org, POLITICO has learned, has recruited some of the biggest critics of Biden within the Democratic Party to make an unvarnished case for why they’re voting for him despite their disagreements.

I have no idea what kind of impact something like this has, but I think it's a good idea. I was thinking the other day that there needs to be a coherent (if not legally coordinated) campaign between all the anti-Trump 501c4s just hammering and hammering the message that he has been and continues to be a disaster. Biden barely needs to even show up in that campaign, except as the alternative to disaster.

There is a segment of the voting population whose idea of fact-checking is like a dog's idea of confirming if some piece of trash sitting on the ground is edible. They swallow it without thinking much either way and only discover later if it causes a fatal bowel obstruction.

So Rashida Tlaib won her primary 66-34. Can someone explain why so many political journalists spent the last 2-3 months writing "Tlaib In Danger!" stories? It feels like it was because *they* didn't like her, so they refused to believe that the people in her district did.

they need to hammer trump on incompetence, all the empty cabinet positions, gutting the adminstration's ability to respond to a pandemic, then when a pandemic came, not caring about responding effectively, preferring to shift blame

probably a lot of that along with a few ppl who liked / were rooting for her making sure that people didn't get complacent about her chances? xp

I mean, the media is mostly propaganda aimed at upholding a centrist status quo, so that might be part of it. xpost

"the media" is a circle of like 75 people treading water in the middle of a rapidly closing circle of sharks

Fact checking more like fart-checking amirart

Treezy otm

Yeah I mean, the greatest-hits reel of Trump's almost uncountable idiocies and fuck-ups just needs to be on a constant inescapable loop in all the social media feeds.

treeship! that's good!

Nice image, treesh