TRUMP GOT COVID

Heartbreaking that he didn't go through with it.

Only improvement would have been incorporating a Hulkamania shirt rip

I hate him so much. So goddamn much.

Fun snippet from Nuzzi's Intelligencer piece today, on last weekend's crisis:

A senior White House official told me there has been an ongoing effort to persuade the president not to do any of this, as there always is during his episodes of advanced mania. Asked what the effort looked like this time, with Trump physically removed from most of the people who might try to calm him down, the official said, “Well, for starters, it’s unsuccessful.”

One former White House official said that stopping Trump from doing something stupid that he really wants to do is possible only if you’re “actually sitting in front of him.” Sick themselves or trying to avoid a sick president, “the people he trusts and respects who would be barriers to that behavior don’t seem to be around,” this person said. “It just looks so chaotic. Duh.”

A second former White House official said the problem is “now people are so broken down, to the point where everyone’s been in ‘Jesus, take the wheel’ mode for the last couple years, and fighting against him is only gonna get them burned. Why even try?” The president’s staff, this person said, have no ability to think strategically because the president’s behavior poses new threats to survival every five minutes.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/10/donald-trump-covid-19-white-house.html

the superman thing has to be a joke

the interregnum between Nov 4 and Jan 20 is going to be a good time to buy stock in heartburn med producers

Can't wait for the launch of a two-front war in Venezuela and Iran

A second former White House official said the problem is “now people are so broken down, to the point where everyone’s been in ‘Jesus, take the wheel’ mode for the last couple years, and fighting against him is only gonna get them burned. Why even try?”

extremely deep sigh

the superman thing has to be a joke

― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Saturday, October 10, 2020 9:33 PM (twenty minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I understand why the few flickering embers of your sanity compel you to believe this, but I would like to gently present the past four years as a counterargument and then welcome you as we tumble together into the abyss.

Trump's Razor - if it sounds too dumb to be true, it probably is

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5g-O4FntXPs

The Superman thing is too corny not to be true. Trump loves his corn.

His entire worldview was shaped by WWE.

Definitely wish we had gotten to see this happen

yes

the interregnum between Nov 4 and Jan 20 is going to be a good time to buy stock in heartburn med producers

could the Dems impeach him during what is hopefully the lame duck session?

The superman T gag is lame. Any real prez would have done the Willy Wonka cane-and-flip thing.

could the Dems impeach him during what is hopefully the lame duck session?

That's a good question, actually. Let's say he loses pretty clearly but then, perhaps predictably, starts inciting violence and unrest. If the House impeached him again, would (enough of) the Senate go along with it this time or just let the violence and unrest continue to be stoked?

Let's say he loses pretty clearly but then, perhaps predictably, starts inciting violence and unrest. If the House impeached him again, would (enough of) the Senate go along with it this time or just let the violence and unrest continue to be stoked?

Are you suggesting that impeachment will lead to LESS violence and unrest?

Like, yr Malheur and Q pizza and Proud Crowd would be like, "Oh wait, you're impeaching our President again? Well, I guess I need to calm down and see how things play out?"

The Senate will never impeach Trump for any reason because they aren't ever going to give Democrats a win like that.

To clarify, I mean Republicans in the Senate voting to convict.

I was thinking more a ... lame duck impeachment? Like, he's lost, that part is over. Biden will be president. But in his last few months in office he starts inciting violence. Would the Senate just sit back and watch that happen?

Assuming a good Senate result, I'm amused by the vision of a new Congress being seated on January 3 and then immediately impeaching him by voice vote just to get him out early.

"Congratulations Mr. Pence. You'll have a shorter presidency than William Henry Harrison, the realest OG, and you don't have to die for it."

Even if Trump loses in a landslide and starts literally murdering people the Senate Republicans will not vote to convict him. The Republican-led Senate since 2014 is the epitome of "sit back and watch that happen".

The Senate margin could shrink in a couple of interesting ways between the election and the inauguration.

1. If Mark Kelly wins the special election in AZ, he would be eligible to be seated in November. -1.

2. If any Republican senators are incapacitated or dead due to a certain virus currently running rampant among GOP circles. -?

3. If the president is incapacitated or dead (see above), the Vice President becomes President. The office of Vice President will be vacant - temporarily - until a new VP is nominated and confirmed.

4. The Vice President (if there is one) casts tie-breaking votes in the Senate.

What if there isn't a Vice President, and there's a tied Senate vote? I dunno, and neither does anyone else.

the Senate's passed no legislation in 23 years, so don't worry about it.

An impeachment vote in December would get maybe three more votes (mark kelly and a couple of lame duck gop senators) than it got last time.

...and a colossal "what's the point" / "waste of time that would be better spent solving problems" reaction from almost everybody

So you think even if Trump were actively making things worse on his way out? Setting fire to the lawn, executive ordering people not to flush toilets in federal buildings, outlawing the color blue?

lol forget peaceful transition of power, do you think (if it comes to him losing) that Trump is going to sit/stand around for any of the pomp and circumstance of transition ceremonies and stuff? Is he going to write a note to Biden and put it in the desk or just scribble his name on a coupon for Trump steaks?

He's going to have prostitutes piss all over the oval office

Which will finally bring us full circle and lift the curse

will be interesting to see what happens if trump is a lame duck for sure.....

*said in Neil Young voice*

lol

Mitch McConnell, Pocahontas and me

At no time from now until the end of time will the Republican party or any significant minority, including its sitting senators (current and future), suddenly get religion when it comes to Trump. They may say some mealy-mouthed words slightly divesting themselves from Trump the individual, but not from any of his policies (sane or insane).

they said the, lame...DUCK.. could get real innarestin

even if Trump were actively making things worse on his way out?

That is not a hypothetical - he's already been doing precisely that since the day he was inaugurated.

If Trump was smart (spoiler: he is not), he'd see the writing on the wall, realize that he has little chance of being (legitimately) re-elected, and kick the mea culpas and conciliatory gestures into overdrive. Because doubling down and making everyone hate him even more is maybe not the best tack to take if he's no longer in a position of power and facing a mountain of potential comeuppance.

But as I say: he's the dumbest fucking human so I expect him to do the dumbest fucking things over the next several months, purely out of spite and to no end that will be of benefit to him.

And I'm not suffering under delusions that he will actually face much in the way of legal comeuppance but I do think he will suffer financial consequences and be rendered something of a social leper among pretty much everyone but his scary fringe. Because without power or money or a viable brand, of what worth will he be to people who view relationships in entirely transactional terms?

But in his last few months in office he starts inciting violence. Would the Senate just sit back and watch that happen?

how would he start doing something that he has been doing consistently for years

Lunch and sic otm

I am ok with him just dying.

Losing, being humiliated, and then dying would be better.

Losing, being humiliated, and then having to live a long life with constant reminders of his humiliation and loserdom? Great.

But his own personal fate is, in a sense, secondary to having his brand of politics completely discredited, never again to re-emerge.

THAT is what I have wanted since the Gingrich era: that strain of politics must be seen as a historical dead end and never shall it regain the world stage.

xpost I'm literally talking "grab your guns and git 'em!" None of this coy dog whistle shit that gives the GOP a weak-sauce out.

if he's a lame duck, i don't think he'd be able to rouse his base to violence. what are they fighting for? who do they think would protect them? he is more dangerous in office.

i think he will be spending those months trying to set himself up for a comfortable post-presidency, so like talking to his lawyers and trying to get out of being prosecuted by the southern district.

it will be great. we can take a breath and enjoy the holidays. and under biden, with a dem house and senate, activism could be engineered toward more productive ends. it's hard to focus on building something better when you are just trying to get the monsters out of office.

Well there’s a pretty good chance that the senate majority will be contingent on the Georgia special election runoff on January 5. It never ends.

oh yeah, good point