"Will you shut up, man?" US Politics October 2020

To be really fucking clear, I would much rather have seven threads about people laughing about Jeffrey Toobin than seven threads of people reposting every single fucking thing Trump says and does

Just be glad people moved on very quickly from talking about Trump's junk.

Hey guys, what did I miss?!

You can’t step in the same slipstream twice.

between the viaducts of Trump's jeans

was glad about that Supreme Court split, but this from Mark Joseph Stern is disturbing:

Ian is right—tonight’s order from the Supreme Court is terrifying. Four conservative justices supported a radical theory that would empower state legislatures to violate election laws and engage in voter suppression with impunity. Only Roberts balked.https://t.co/gXyvND850U https://t.co/80uQmrhwhu

— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) October 20, 2020

I understand that it's good news re: PA but I find it chilling that half the court was evidently in favor of hearing this case

lol xp

14 days

Hell yeah

Uh oh looks like the chairman of biden fundraising committee/vp search committee member is not getting a cabinet position

1. Exclusive: Sources tell me that LA Mayor @ericgarcetti witnessed his top advisor Rick Jacobs sexually harass and assault people over the past six years. And not only did the Mayor not do anything to stop it, he's kept Jacobs in his position. https://t.co/icvQYPOmzl

— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) October 20, 2020

Good

Yeah I'm gonna say I'm shedding no tears for either that guy or Garcetti.

Separately, roffle

The Senate Judiciary Committee postponed plans to vote on subpoenas to compel the CEOs of Twitter and Facebook to testify on allegations of anti-conservative bias after some panel Republicans expressed reservation about the maneuverhttps://t.co/mhnTNQIu7e

— POLITICO (@politico) October 20, 2020

Open Mic Night cancelled:

https://www.npr.org/2020/10/19/925605044/candidates-will-have-some-uninterrupted-time-in-final-presidential-debate

B-b-but will they be able to play guitar with a capo?

I think it would be funny if while Biden was talking Trump was just ranting and yelling off-mic from across the room, like a drunk down on the street hollering under your window.

Wondering if they'll keep the split-screen when the mic is off.

That is absolutely what will happen (if Trump actually agrees to this)

I'm picturing when Bender is flailing about singing B E N D E R and hermes just mutes him and leaves him to flail in the background while everyone ignores him.

I think it would be funny if while Biden was talking Trump was just ranting and yelling off-mic from across the room, like a drunk down on the street hollering under your window.

I don't really see how that's substantively different from the first debate, which was not funny.

Yay they're doing the one thing they do

http://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/20/biden-transition-republican-cabinet-429972

Among the names being floated for possible Biden Cabinet posts are Meg Whitman, the CEO of Quibi and former CEO of eBay, and former Ohio Gov. John Kasich, both of whom spoke at August’s Democratic National Convention. Massachusetts GOP Gov. Charlie Baker and former Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) have also been mentioned, as has former Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Penn.), who resigned from Congress in 2018 and became a lobbyist.

vewy sewious peopow

I don't really see how that's substantively different from the first debate, which was not funny.

I didn't see the first debate, so I don't know how it sounded, but I was thinking more muffled and distant. Like, Biden is talking and in the background you hear this sort of indistinct "mmmrph hrmmmn floooorrfle ... !" Like someone that's literally been gagged and is trying to get the attention of someone for help. "Murrrffle! Murrrrfle murfffle murf!" (sound of tape ripping and deep panting/breaths) "Hunter Biden!" And then he tips over and dies.

Anyway, this, certainly, is funny:

President Trump on Pelosi at $2.2 trillion: "I would be willing to go more, because I think ... The government we get the money back -- it gets the money back anyway and it's better than unemployment and all the costs associated with the alternative"

— Jeff Stein (@JStein_WaPo) October 20, 2020

Butting right up against a major breakthrough

Is that republican version of standing on the verge of gettin it on?

the electric spanking of Trump baby more like

Make Meg Secretary of Mergers and Acquisitions, she would be very good at that.

So Tiffany's a chip off the old turd, eh?

Looking forward to getting angry at Biden after he wins.

I think it would be funny if while Biden was talking Trump was just ranting and yelling off-mic from across the room, like a drunk down on the street hollering under your window.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, October 19, 2020 9:41 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Wondering if they'll keep the split-screen when the mic is off.
― clemenza, Monday, October 19, 2020 9:54 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

That is absolutely what will happen (if Trump actually agrees to this)
― akm, Tuesday, October 20, 2020 12:25 AM (nine hours ago)

We're definitely going to get the live TV version of @TrumpDraws Thursday night.

Early vote total up to 33.7 million -- over 5 million from about 24 hours ago, though that likely was partial backlog from the weekend. Even so, early vote total on track to exceed the 2016 early vote total by Friday, possibly sooner. Elections Project is projecting early vote total this year could be at least 85 million, well over half the overall vote total from 2016.

so happy all these people are turning out to vote for Kanye

ned - are you looking at that github site?
because if anything i think that is drastically underestimating it, just been checking MN and they haven't updated the number since last week

I'm sure it's how states report etc etc but I bet it's actually way more

Looking forward to getting angry at Biden after he wins.

I agree it's dumb but it's even more idiotic that our country is set up so that a minority party can just unilaterally decide to grind the entire federal government to a halt until they cheat their own guy in

(as in, it’s just something for the media to chew on for a day or so and not actually real)

Xpost to self

forget about politics, i'm skipping straight ahead to the benghazi of biden's term:

Fox News is now pushing for Barr or Trump to appoint a special counsel to investigate the Hunter Biden smear story. It is is reminiscent of the network’s successful campaign to get a House Select Committee on Benghazi. https://t.co/FyYHyL77Uu

— Matthew Gertz (@MattGertz) October 20, 2020

although, if they can manage to take back the senate, keep the house, and win the presidency, republican attempts to form #Benghazi 2: the Laptop of Hunter Biden will be thwarted

well, they've got less than two weeks to get it together.

because if anything i think that is drastically underestimating it, just been checking MN and they haven't updated the number since last week

I'm sure it's how states report etc etc but I bet it's actually way more

Oh, entirely likely -- it's worth noting the fellow who runs the site/project always says 'at least' when reporting his numbers, so in actuality they are higher.

More people have now early voted in TX than the number of people who voted for Donald Trump in TX in 2016.

— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) October 20, 2020

Crazy. And with two weeks to go that number will just ramp up.

Tim Alberta's latest on his hunches is 1) short, thankfully and 2) hones on a key point I think is getting more and more obvious, however much he's still cautious about it:

But if Trump loses, the biggest factor won’t be Covid-19 or the economic meltdown or the social unrest. It will be his unlikability.

As I wrote last week in a dispatch from Arizona, sometimes you hear a voter say something “so basic, so one-dimensional, that you’re inclined to dismiss it until you hear it for the thousandth time.” That’s the story of this election: All across America, in conversations with voters about their choices this November, I’ve been hearing the same thing over and over again: “I don’t like Trump.” (Sometimes there’s a slight variation: “I’m so tired of this guy,” “I can’t handle another four years of this,” etc. The remarkable thing? Many of these conversations never even turn to Biden; in Phoenix, several people who had just voted for the Democratic nominee did not so much as mention his name in explaining their preference for president.

Generations of pollsters and journalists have fixated on the question of which candidate voters would rather have a beer with—a window into how personality translates into political success. Here’s the thing: Americans have been having a beer with Trump for the past four years—every morning, every afternoon, every evening. He has made himself more accessible than any president in history, using the White House as a performance stage and Twitter as a real-time diary for all to read. Like the drunk at the bar, he won’t shut up.

Whatever appeal his unfiltered thoughts once held has now worn off. Americans are tired of having beers with Trump. His own supporters are tired of having beers with Trump. In hundreds of interviews this year with MAGA loyalists, I have noted only a handful in which the person did not, unsolicited, point to the president’s behavior as exhausting and inappropriate. Strip away all the policy fights, all the administrative action (or inaction), all the culture war politics, and the decision for many people comes down to a basic conclusion: They just do not approve of the president as a human being.

He then adds a bit about how Dan Crenshaw's own constituents are telling him they're not supporting Trump, which causes me no end of delight.

remember when Dem operators fretted about Biden's canceling negative advertisements two weeks ago?

major Trump fatigue is a big factor for sure. He's not some outsider that voters are curious about and don't like the mean lady anyways.

Biden just needs to ask Trump if he's wearing a diaper during the debate, and ask him what color and brand it is

Biden should run an ad on Halloween that's just a still image of Trump's grinning jack-o'lantern face for a full minute, and at the end have a voice intone "if you've made it this far, imagine another four years looking at that fuckin' face."

The reaction from audiences everywhere (NSFW on the grossness front):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2D0kDFKaxE

It'd be perfect on Thursday if they initially keep Trump's mic on, mute him as soon as he interrupts, and then, with a smile, the moderator says "That felt great--we've all been waiting to do that forever."

(And to give you a further idea of the quickness of early voting, it's already up to 34 million now.)

Or they can keep his mic on but keep pretending they can't hear him, like Pee Wee Herman.