GET OUT: US politics November 2020

give me a Chad Wolf-type feel (map)

i got into a passionate argument with my mom earlier tonight, about the topic of moving on from trump. i feel like this is deeply connected to the current idea that trump is no longer relevant. my mom wants me to forget about trump and move on. i found this offensive, in the moment. i'm not ready to move on, quite yet. did you just see dad throw the rock at mom? it bruised her leg really bad and she's limping. just move on. let's just move on.

i think i'm still fine with dwelling on what is happening, and who is aiding and abetting it and supporting it

there will be plenty of time to move on, after it's over. it's still happening.

half the Trump signs in my neighborhood are still up, including almost all of the big ones. all the Trump flags are still waving. I guess I wasn't really looking but I doubt the Romney signs remained up a week after he lost the election.

I hope they leave the flags up forever, watching those colors "run" and fade, a ragged reminder years from now of who they still are.

https://i.imgur.com/39XIV3s.jpg

Depending on their circumstances and the nature of trauma Trump's presidency has caused someone, bear in mind that they may be decentering him now that's he lost because another couple of months of living in Trumpworld is unbearable to them. Nobody thinks he's really irrelevant, but his conclusive defeat in the election is definitely license to stop thinking about him for a few months and catch our breath.

Nobody thinks he's really irrelevant, but his conclusive defeat in the election is definitely license to stop thinking about him for a few months and catch our breath.

He's not truly irrelevant until January 21, but after that he will be. I mean, he's not going to have any policymaking role when Biden's president - do you think Mitch McConnell's going to call him up and ask him for advice? Do you think he's going to become some kind of Republican foreign policy elder statesman? They've all known for four years that he's an incurious imbecile; they just hung with him and pretended he was sentient so they could use him to achieve their policy objectives. Before long, even the cult will drift away, because the myth of Trump is all about projecting power, and he has none now.

FWIW I have this ongoing argument with a friend about what happens to the trump "base" now. I think the part of it that wasn't regularly interested in politics is largely going to dissipate -- some of it may fall deeper down the Q hole, some of it may unfortunately go toward white supremacist groups, but I don't think "the Trump base" is really a cohesive force without the Trump presidency. She disagrees and thinks "they own the Republican party now." I just think that people who aren't naturally inclined toward politics and get interested it because of a particular charismatic/cult figure are bound to lose interest when that figure loses power.

Do you think he's going to become some kind of Republican foreign policy elder statesman?

I do, but not in the way the Republican party are looking forward to. Unless New York manages to put his ass in jail, he's going to play GOP kingmaker whether Mitch McConnell likes it or not. But that wasn't my point. For the moment, I'm enjoying my thoughts being uninterrupted by Trump's unceasing bullshit for the first time in more than four years. I have no doubt this new ability to ignore him is going to bring a lot of vulnerable people back from the brink.

I had two near-simultaneous thoughts this morning: 1) as exasperating/infuriating/terrifying as it's been to have a lame duck president act as if he has no intention of leaving the WH, it's actually a really good thing that this dipshit undertook so much legal action, as we now have not just the actual results of the election but also a number of unaffiliated judges saying 'yeah, this fucker is out on his ass on January 20, and 2) there exists no breadth or depth or quantity of proof that will ever convince his most ardent witchchunter general supporters that the results of this election are completely invalid.

Trump is going to be out hustling for cash under every rock he finds and they probably will be able to shake out some dough, never mind if there ends up being any shenanigans going on that have not yet been uncovered (to play their game). It seems like they were profiting quite a bit on the fact that people in certain parts of the planet were renting rooms all over the place from them and mostly leaving the rooms empty. It will be interesting 'who' might end up buying off some of his debt going forward, which is something I could see happening.

I have a hard time believing that whatever plastic hog idol that Trumps charisma is going to wear off any way on his dorky kids and I think his daughter might be more willing to do other things to make money than keep following through in politics.

Maybe they will all just go to Florida. That's where all the dregs settle from the east coast. (que Butthole Surfers 'Going down to Florida')

With their Gov buddy, seems like their kind of place.

One of the few positives about the era of Trump (imo, afaict) is that the GOP's current fascist godhead simply has no heir apparent. There isn't another figure among their ranks with the degree of name recognition and scorched earth sociopathic assholery to effectively take Trump's place among his utterly debased base. Trump's particular blend of 'The Beast as depicted in the Book of Revelations' qualities is (thank fucking christ) pretty goddamn sui generis.

To the extent that Trump is a kind of projected psychosis, I'm not counting on their inability to barf up another one. The siren call of the presidency is certainly enough to make a bigger monster out of any number of regular monsters.

there were a lot of troubling signs long before Trump - willful disobedience of the law, deliberate lies and distortions spread by a well-organized campaign that feigns grassroots origins.

the obvious stuff was the obstructionism (or just outright racism) with Obama, which began prior to Day 1 in office, yes, but the other stuff, like the Bundy family just deciding to make up their own reality and willfully violate the law...and then inexplicably, none of them getting prosecuted. People like Bobby Jindal publicly saying he would not implement a state exchange in Louisiana that was required by the ACA after it was upheld by the Supreme Court....saying he'd just wait for Romney to win and repeal it. all of the Tea Party bullshit at the townhalls for the Affordable Care Act, the disruptions, the "death panel" lies and other deliberate misinformation they spread that circulated like wildfire. The Kim Davis cause celebre. the Hobby Lobby decision.

chances are the next awful GOP President will be smarter and know to respect norms but they could still infect the country with a similar toxic platform. worst of all, idk that any of this dies with age. the young GOP stalwarts seem to be driving a lot of the new extremity.

A smart evil despot who had been watching what was got away with might get ideas of their own and be more successful.

but that person isn't Tom Cotton

no but he may be one of many who have not as yet distinguished tehmself. If one is an intelligent manipulative person do they make themsleves visible under a regime taht is likely to carry a stain for a while or do they wait until th eeejit is ousted and do things a bit more subtly until they reach a position of leverageable power.
Hate to think what is likely to emerge over the next decade or so especially as the GOP hasn't been vanquished. NOt going to be limping off with its tail between its legs as one might have hoped. Hope it is going to be a sign taht momentum does need to be maintained and any form of status quo be closely investigated as to what does need to be changed.
Hope people aren't feeling burnt out already.

& on the other hand would think that a totally decisive victory might have lent to complacency while the vestiges of what had apparently been vanquished regrouped and redoubled their efforts.
Hope America is in some form of recovery but think it may need to watch what is still developing.
Also not be giving great roles in the cabinet to Republicans over progressives.

pre-spring 2016, no one would have bet on Trump's ability to remake the entire Republican base into his image, I wouldn't dismiss anyone in the GOP under the age of 65

They all look like wax figures left out to melt in the summer sun to us... but so did Trump. Maybe the base is content with any kind of owning the libs even if the person selling them that line isn't as cool as The Donald. Harvard lawyer and career bureaucrat/politician Ted Cruz might seem like a painfully awkward dweeb pretending to be a rootin tootin good old boy - but a) it worked for Dubya and b) the hogs who love Trump are exactly the same kind of deeb suburban weak-chinned whiners afraid of the world.

Some freshman Republican will blow a spitball at Biden during his first State of the Union and immediately become the odds-on favorite for 2024.

If his health and legal status allow, Trump will keep talking and tweeting about running again. He’ll probably keep having rallies, because he loves them. And he very well could run again. If he does, who knows how that turns out. But it also seems likely other factors, either legal or financial, are going to get in his way. In any case, he’s not going to go away, and no one will be able to safely ignore him. But we can pay a lot less attention, at least for a while.

I hope they leave the flags up forever, watching those colors "run" and fade, a ragged reminder years from now of who they still are.

I was driving yesterday and saw a small truck with two large flagpoles on the back bumper: the left was a giant American flag, the right had no flag and I got an instant flash that two weeks ago there was a Trump 2020 flag there.

I think he just accidentally conceded the race...

He won because the Election was Rigged. NO VOTE WATCHERS OR OBSERVERS allowed, vote tabulated by a Radical Left privately owned company, Dominion, with a bad reputation & bum equipment that couldn’t even qualify for Texas (which I won by a lot!), the Fake & Silent Media, & more! https://t.co/Exb3C1mAPg

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 15, 2020

I'll bet it was just a delight for everyone involved when young Donald Trump's soccer team lost a match.

#WattersWords:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwjEW66V-RM

don't we get a texas recount now?

Ha, so earlier this morning the outgoing asshole tweeted "He won because the Election was Rigged. NO VOTE WATCHERS OR OBSERVERS allowed, vote tabulated by a Radical Left privately owned company, Dominion, with a bad reputation & bum equipment that couldn't even qualify for Texas (which I won by a lot!), the Fake & Silent Media, & more!"

I quoted it because after the first two words registered with thousands of people, he's deleted it, and replaced it with this:

He only won in the eyes of the FAKE NEWS MEDIA. I concede NOTHING! We have a long way to go. This was a RIGGED ELECTION!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 15, 2020

I hope he gets the full Mussolini at this point. Completely fucking sick of this shit.

I will say since the race got called last week I’ve noticed a significant reduction in my day to day anxiety. I’m well aware there’s an unbelievable amount of problems our country/planet need to face but just the fact that rodent fire fuckface is out has been huge.

It is but then also with every passing day of belligerence he's adding fuel to his maniac followers' fire. We have another two months of this shit, and the odds of someone(s) doing some awful, hateful, violent shit just seem to rise and rise.

proud boys already stabbing ppl in dc tbr

Bolstering Old Lunch's thoroughly unpleasant reality check:

A Fox News anchor briefly paused mid-segment on Saturday after a sign carried by a demonstrator at the so-called “Million MAGA March” in Washington, D.C. appeared on the screen bearing a racist threat. Fox anchor Eric Shawn broke from his conversation with a Republican strategist to say, “We’ve just seen a very disturbing sign. It said, ‘Coming for Blacks and Indians first welcome to the New World Order.’ Who the hell knows, you know, what people have and what they say on these things?” The march, intended to show support for President Donald Trump and his false claims that he won the presidential election, drew a significantly smaller crowd than a million people, with attendees numbering in the thousands.

proud boys already stabbing ppl in dc tbr

I haven’t seen any reporting on this.

Network news may not have covered it, and I don't have cable so I can't vouch for CNN or MSNBC, but there are photos and video footage all over Twitter. Multiple people stabbed, including a reporter, and the DC police were either actively sheltering the Proud Boys (as they've done at numerous protests throughout the year, in various cities) or standing back and letting things unfold without interference.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jemimamcevoy/2020/11/15/million-maga-march-ends-in-stabbing-arrests-after-trump-supporters-and-counter-protesters-brawl/?sh=21b9f8c067dc

this insistence on their part that Biden 'didn't campaign' is the weirdest thing.

it's like they cannot fathom you can win without having giant fucking rallies

lol see also: Bernie supporters in 2016 saying the same thing

they're acting as if he was some obscure dude nobody heard of that showed up in October at the debates fresh off the street

like he was polling ahead since 2019 and people are shocked that....the polls were....somewhat accurate?

if he wasn't campaigning who sent those 50 emails a day asking me for money

you just can't talk to these trumpers. one of them tweeted @ me "How can you not believe what you are seeing with your own eyes and hearing with your own ears? You are brainwashed. Facts matter". it was this beautiful time capsule of irony that didn't require response.

lol EEPHUS he's still doing it!

I think it's less that you just can't talk to Trumpers and more that you just DON'T talk to Trumpers. If they're incapable of or unwilling to interface with basic reality, they should be actively shunned.

Like there needs to be some social consequence for behaving as they fo, and at present there really isn't much of one. They're the truth-tellin' underdogs!

fo = do

i agree. some of you probably saw my multi-platform rager last night (no apologies for that one; that was about the most productive way i could funnel my anger and angst and disappointment of the moment), but i'm doing a last name switcheroo due to my racist parents. i've had enough, i want nothing to do with them, and i don't anyone to associate me with them.

it won't happen, because changing your name is a pain in the ass, but i plan on posting my new name/paperwork etc with a clear message that i'm doing so because of my racist parents, and then encouraging anyone else in the same situation to change theirs as well. 2021 should be the year that a whole bunch of people formally dissociate from their racist parents. it sounds like a joke (like my life?) but i actually want that

rare John Bolton OTM:

NEW: Former National Security Adviser John Bolton urges GOP leadership to "explain to our voters... that in fact Trump has lost the election and that these claims of election fraud are baseless." https://t.co/z6SZ06zbP3 pic.twitter.com/GyXya7xYAv

— ABC News (@ABC) November 15, 2020

wow Karl. that takes some stones. i really sympathise. hang in there.

Bolton got fired by Trump with the usual ceremonial kick in the groin on the way out, so he is persona non grata among Trump crazies, who make up such a large part of the party now. His only path back into power is via the neo-con never-Trumper wing of the party. I'd be thrilled if he never got another sniff at power, but spent the rest of his life pitifully knocking on doors that will never open for him.