God Has Abandoned Us: U.S. Politics November 2023

he just wants the yes men. he doesn't care about the results.

it's an ego strategy not a legal strategy

yeah, its his mental state. just tell him what he wants to hear because that is all he wants to hear.

someone should convince trump to preemptively freeze his head in a block of ice, for the future.

Though I get the sense he's tried that at least once already.

That article in full:
If Trump Wins, His Allies Want Lawyers Who Will Bless a More Radical Agenda

One of the many bizarre aspects of the way this is playing out is how Trump's (I believe genuine) messianic complex is converging with his essential nature as a grifter.

Lmao

New Quinnipiac Poll with some big 👀 on RFK Jr.:
- Biden 39%
- Trump 36%
- RFK Jr. 22%

Kennedy has a plurality of independent voters (!!!): 36% for RFK Jr., 31% for Trump, 30% Biden. https://t.co/o6T1ZCngsM

— Alex Seitz-Wald (@aseitzwald) November 1, 2023

always wonder if the 'independent voters' really know what that means

'independent voters' are really republicans and libertarians (other republican voters) in disguise

they’re republicans who do their own research

So I see there's an attempt by senate Republicans going on to push through all these military promotions that have been held up by Sen. Tuberville. What exactly is needed to overcome his hold? Is it something like a 2/3 vote or can he just unilaterally stop this forever?

I read about something called a 'standing order resolution', and oddly, it was actually supposed to be Sinema's idea... an unusual procedural move, not a rules change

who actually would benefit from an RFK spoiler? he'd pull Biden voters but I guess he'd pull Trumpers too.

I don't think it's clear at this point

I think he would pull more from Trump voters, but Cornel West on the other hand...

What are they even doing, is it just to garner money and fame? At least Dean Phillips is running in the democratic primary so we can all laugh at him as a joke candidate

West and Kennedy are unhinged, insane narcissists

Good thing they don't stand a chance of winning.

that's not the problem, though

i didn't take many Nader votes to screw the pooch for Gore

RFK would absolutely pull more Trump voters

yeah, he's cousins to JFK Jr. who is part of 'the plan'

RFJ Jr. terrifies Trump's people.

he'd pull Biden voters but I guess he'd pull Trumpers too.

There has been no indication that RFK Jr. would pull one single Democratic vote. He would, however, draw pretty deeply from the crazy end of the Trump voter pool.

you haven't met my lifelong Democrat voting stepfather, a big RFK fan

it is a real fucking problem

RFK Jr. probably would get some votes that otherwise would go to Biden, but the more exposure people have to him I think the fewer of those votes he gets. Right now some number of people answering the surveys are just reacting to the name. On the other hand, he can pull some loons who know all about his anti-vaxx and general conspiracy shit and love it, and a lot more of those are people who would otherwise vote for Trump if at all. Or that's how it seems.

Not yet. This story's a couple weeks old, but it tracks with what I've heard anecdotally:

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/10/rfk-jr-independent-bid-could-do-trump-more-damage-than-biden

xpost to sleeve

I sure hope so

Then God has abandoned us.

lol waht, I was agreeing w/yr article!

I mean, obviously god has foresaken us since the breakdown of the bicameral mind ;)

what if God has abandoned us

https://pictures.abebooks.com/isbn/9780802023063-us.jpg

RFK's support is going to be a nonentity - he's weird and creepy, his only positives are (last) name recognition and anti-vaxxer cred. The former doesn't go far (if more of those people start to see him speaking) and the latter will fall back into the Trump camp assuming Big Don doesn't pull an Elvis on the shitter before next November.

I think that's true, my stepfather was a big OG Kennedy fan and that's where the uncritical support comes from, largely

(he may have changed his mind about all this, my last convo on it was in June)

support is

Elvis on the shitter

I know, it's really serious

NEW: As he visits Minnesota, local Muslim leaders say they will "abandon Biden."

The president had no meetings planned with local Muslim leaders while on the ground in one of the U.S. hubs of Muslim life and was met by protests organized by CAIR.https://t.co/SxX5b6Wfsa

— Alex Seitz-Wald (@aseitzwald) November 1, 2023

wtf else would he expect?

Trump pledges to reimpose Muslim 'travel ban'

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20231029-trump-pledges-to-reimpose-muslim-travel-ban-at-jewish-gathering

lol sleeve

i don't think arab americans are going to vote for trump over biden; but not voting at all is going to hurt biden's chances in some places.

otm, I absolutely understand not wanting to vote for Biden, even more after the past few weeks, but I fear that people choosing not to vote is going to help Trump more than anything else.

Biden can fix that with one weird trick

Absolutely, but do we honestly think he'll do that soon enough? I mean, it's too late as it is, but I'm skeptical he will move meaningfully on this.

Don't worry, he's going to rural America to hear concerns from voters.

Oh I don’t think he’ll move meaningfully, or any other way, on it

xpost

It’s very simple, the US supports our democratic allies in their fight against terrorism

for some reason I stopped feeling the need to wonder about the backgrounds of the "don't talk about caste" people after reading a few quotes

I do appreciate seeing Shri Thanedar's amazing hairpiece in one of the pictures, though

the stories from that guy's office are pretty ridiculous

At a glance it seems like this federal definition of existing civil rights protections could be understood to encompass caste, particularly the "ancestry" part: "Discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin includes discrimination based on a person’s actual or perceived race, color, national origin, ethnicity, or ancestry."

That was Newsom's argument for vetoing, but afaict the problem is that "ancestry" in that list is subordinate to "race, color, or national origin" and is therefore intended to add greater specificity to the concept of racial discrimination, which is not relevant when the case involves people of the same national origin, race, color, etc discriminating against each other (but ianal).

That said, iirc the article mentioned building up "case law" to establish a legal basis for caste discrimination, and I would guess it would draw on that language?

Yeah, it's not explicitly covered so you would need a judge to decide. It's tricky. A caste is not exactly an ethnicity or a group of national origin, but it seems like it has enough attributes — being heritable, particularly — that it would qualify. But you'd need the right case to prove discrimination with.

Is this thing on?

Anyway, I read this, and I'll sleep worse tonight as a result
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/11/30/trump-dictator-2024-election-robert-kagan/

good morning!

WHERE ARE THOSE TAX RETURNS???

oh, we got them, showed that he was a bad person, who knew?

Day 1 A.K.

Meantime

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/11/30/complaint-filed-against-florida-gop-chair-00129343

(The URL is rather anodyne given the details.)

December will be quite a month in Florida GOP circles, is about all I can come up with in response to that right now

WTF is up with this DeSantis/Newsom charade? very cringe

If I was Newsom, I would just keep referring to Florida's leprosy outbreaks

You probably could pay me enough to watch that, but it would have to be a lot.

i have no idea why newsom is wasting his time on this.

Auditioning for president in 2028?

like there is going to be an election in 2028

I give it at least a 50/50 chance

if Newsom runs in 2028, it will make another year where I refuse to vote for president. Loathsome racist technocrat.

osamathumbsup.jpg

byeeeee

https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/george-santos-expulsion-vote-12-1-23/index.html

He'll always be a Congressman in my heart

Peace out, whoever you were

We are all George Santos.

Identity scam-wise

This interview is long but worth reading. William Kristol, former GW Bush toady turned anti-Trump crusader, interviews reporter Jonathan Karl about what a second Trump term might actually entail, based on who's gonna be part of it and what they hope to achieve. It's bad, folks.

Thanks, unperson.

Yeah, thanks. I don’t think most people are taking this seriously enough.

Bill Kristol has a track record of being spectacularly wrong about everything, but he’s just the interviewer here obvs.

using wikipedia to remind myself what an abominable ghoul Bill Kristol is and "Not to be confused with Billy Crystal." is the first line lmao

Billy, son of Jack

Bill, son of Irving

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnAGwA9zmI8

Michael Cohen doing live shows now, what a country:

Michael Cohen Live & In-Person Discussing Everything You Want To Hear With Special Guest Katie Phang

https://render.vivenu.com/image?url=https://s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/yt-s3/bbc728db-7bcc-4e5f-b06c-50629166878f.jpg&width=800&height=600

https://citywinery.com/new-york-city/events/michael-cohen-live-in-person-discussing-everythi-gddpm2?

i hate that the project 2025 stuff is extremely concerning and that it's called 'project 2025'

US Politics, December 2023: "I love this place. For me, it’s like a fever dream."