People that you've never heard of, people that are in the dark shadows -- US Politics September 2020

"he's a doddering old weirdo" wasn't the most original attack line ever but it was at least more credible than "he's going to let the commies in"

like, buddy, I wish.

Also going to guess that the Democrats, from now until the end of time, will try to turn every Republican nominee into Trump.

As they should, tbh.

if the nominee is cruz advocating for charging protesters with 5 years in federal prison unless they renounce their 13th year degree in bolivian trans dance from evergreen college, or whatever, they won't have to do much extra work to turn him into trump

(xpost) Sure. Nixon replaced Hoover, now Trump has replaced Nixon. The Republican go-to still seems to be half-McGovern, half-Carter.

All Obama

when will Van Buren get his due?

https://cdn.britannica.com/s:800x450,c:crop/03/172703-138-068E96AB/overview-Martin-Van-Buren.jpg

The Little Magician!

For Trump's 35%, yes--I don't know if that works past that. Which leads to another category: the Guy from the Other Party You Can Stand to Praise. The Democrats, weirdly, seem to be okay praising Reagan; I wish they'd stick to Eisenhower. Most Republicans seem to have to go back to FDR, although Kennedy gets mentioned a lot too--Clinton, sometimes. Obama should slide into that Reagan category after a few years, but he won't, because he'll never not be black.

not sure you could get away with calling someone the red fox of kinderhook these days

I agree with Cruz that we should prosecute LARPers

Looks like Trump is given up on AZ

Trump campaign going dark in Arizona, cancels planned TV blitz https://t.co/vIosufYgEf

— Josh Mankiewicz (@JoshMankiewicz) September 6, 2020

Why would Ted Cruz want to disrespect Civil War LARPers re-enactors like that?

1. With @ShaneGoldmacher, a deep look at how the Trump campaign spent money for the last 3.5 years, as some officials say cash-on-hand is going to be much less than it should be in the final stretch before September. https://t.co/TgAwsBaJRT

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) September 7, 2020

Republican President Donald Trump, accused by Joe Biden of putting lives at risk in his handling of the coronavirus, on Monday called his Democratic rival “stupid” and demanded an apology for what Trump called anti-vaccine rhetoric.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-trump/trump-calls-biden-stupid-demands-apology-for-challenging-him-on-vaccines-idUSKBN25Y21S

Twitter meltdown coming in 4...3...2...

Biden to @abc27News on Trump and his campaign's suggestion he's "lost a step"

"Look at how [Trump] steps and look at how I step. Watch how I run up ramps and how he stumbles down ramps, okay?" pic.twitter.com/7eJdXm0DKn

— Johnny Verhovek (@JTHVerhovek) September 7, 2020

biden is better dressed than trump. his suits actually fit.

treeship breathed a sigh of relief when Off-The-Rack Bernie lost the nom

Who knew that in these Teflon times the one thing to stick is Rampgate?

I would love nothing more than for Trump to be baited into racing up and down ramps until he trips and falls and breaks something.

The debate are just gonna be an American Gladiators-esque competition of climbing novelty ramps.

Here Comes The GOPstepper.

Honestly, since Trump has thrown so much distraction chaff and so much petty pointless bullshit out there, I won't be sad if what ultimately takes him out is something stupid like "can't walk on ramps" or "is rumored to have said Things About TROOPS" that throws him off.

There are lots more substantive issues, WAY more obvious illegality, and loads more heinous things he's done and said - and those have pretty much not registered in terms of his approval numbers, his national poll standing, or the electoral-college picture. If you look at aggregated averages he's pretty much where he always has been, despite various ups and downs.

So yeah, partly, "lol nothing matters." But also, why should he not be brought down by the sort of trivial zing he's trafficked in himself for so long?

Uh the whole “thinks our troops are idiots” thing ain’t exactly trivial, that shit would end anyone else’s career on the spot

how weird, all this ramp talk has made me realise that the animal Asshole reminds me of most is a huge white chicken I once had

XP

https://frinkiac.com/gif/S04E22/627909/637286.gif?b64lines=

Newly renovated Rose Garden now under repair https://t.co/T0FDcKX26F

— Kate Bennett (@KateBennett_DC) September 8, 2020

I beg your pardon

I beg your pardon
I never promised you a Rose Garden
we’re building the Wall in this yard and
it’s gonna rule so hard man

looooool

a source with knowledge of the garden troubles told CNN.

That source? Bill Walton.

I beg your pardon
I never promised you a Rose Garden
we’re building the Wall in this yard and
it’s gonna rule so hard man
make this White House great again

ftfm

Went to a garden party to reminisce with my old friends
A chance to share old memories and make America great again
When I got to the garden party, all the plants were dead
They didn't feed them water, they poured Gatorade instead

To frogbs - apologies for "trivial." My take on the tRoOpS stuff is that the current story is "OMG he said THAT?" vs. the flat denial from Trump and "*yawn* anonymous sources - bullshit" from Trumpers.

As long as the SHOCKA story can be waved away with plausible deniability, it's back to square one: if you heard the "losers/suckers" language and think "yeah, I believe he said that," you're already on team anti-Trump. If you read it with Trumper lenses on, you'll just see unsourced FAKE NEWS. So it's just the same boring tribal dance.

I do think there's a somewhat notable chunk of the country who's in between those, doesn't like Trump but tolerates him for SC judges or whatever, those people are the reason his approval rating keeps bouncing from 39-44% and yeah "fuck the troops" is definitely something that'll swing those people

that said it'll be mostly forgotten in a few weeks but still. Trump's path to victory right now is a razor thin margin, he can't afford to lose anyone right now

A+ Neanderthal

xp also tbh a whole lot of right-wingers don't really "support the troops" in any serious way, it's just something they use to beat up liberals with. They're not going to beat up Trump with it because that's not the point.

yeah, there have been reports of Trump making fun of Pence for his pro-life beliefs and religious people seemingly dgaf

The entire GOP is just Storemare shouting at Bridges in the tub, basically.

the GOP:

https://cdnimg.webstaurantstore.com/images/products/large/102661/2068992.jpg

christ

DOJ is now arguing that when Trump said "she's not my type" he was ... acting in his official capacity & within the scope of his employment as President.

This is truly grotesque--they're saying that misogyny is the President's official duties/within the scope of his job. https://t.co/LOjKDCgXDa

— Leah Litman (@LeahLitman) September 8, 2020

"whats the only way I can escape this lifetime of lawsuits, rape cases, and people who I owe money baying for my blood... I know! I'll become President!"

Not really even joking tbh.

https://nyti.ms/3m7hkma

I think this is a cogent piece suggesting what the messaging could look like in a push for electoral reform. I hadn't even heard of this interstate compact idea before.

The National Popular Vote bill will take effect when enacted into law by states possessing 270 electoral votes (a majority of the 538 electoral votes). As of July 2020, it has been enacted into law in 16 jurisdictions possessing 196 electoral votes....

https://www.nationalpopularvote.com/state-status

this does not seem at all out of reach

eh John Roberts will save us

frightened by the decent odds that we will actually be counting on that

I'm shocked. Aren't you?

Trump admitted to Bob Woodward on March 19 that he deliberately minimized the danger of the coronavirus. "I wanted to always play it down," the president said. https://t.co/v2T8zwNSpX

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) September 9, 2020

but...that would mean he's putting his own political standing ahead of the life and happiness of his constituents?????????