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

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

as monstrous as Biden's statements have been it's not exactly out of line with what the Dem party as a whole is saying. a small handful of Congresswomen have taken a stance saying war crimes are bad and for that they've been getting called terrorist sympathizers from both sides. it does seem with this recent "stand up to Islamophobia" thing the White House is doing they're at least aware that this is hurting them, not that I expect them to do anything about it

USAID seems to say we gave Israel $3.3B with a B for military aid and $8m of economic aid
https://www.foreignassistance.gov/
cool infographic you can parse in several ways.
disbursements to west bank/gaza $110m, you can then see how they believe it's apportioned by sectors, e.g. $48.36m for "Emergency Response"

as monstrous as Biden's statements have been it's not exactly out of line with what the Dem party as a whole is saying.

Fetterman is not exactly surprising in this. Didn’t he allow AIPAC to edit his campaign platform during the primary?

https://apnews.com/article/military-nominations-senate-tuberville-holds-0c3a5441fb94887fdb0e1b1b65a399f5

Sam Bankman-Fried was just convicted on seven charges of fraud and conspiracy. So why does it feel like Joe Biden is the one who’s going to jail?

— New York Times Pitchbot (@DougJBalloon) November 3, 2023

Meanwhile, in the how's the "not Biden" campaign going?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/11/02/dean-phillips-town-hall-new-hampshire/

Speaking in a theater here less than a week after announcing his campaign, Phillips faced screaming and profanity from voters disappointed in his response to a question on a cease-fire in the Middle East. He was accused of gaslighting the lone Black woman in attendance, who was escorted out of the event — but not before a handful of other attendees walked out of the room.

Around an hour into the meandering town hall here Wednesday, 23-year-old Democrat Atong Chan rose to ask Phillips to support a cease-fire in the Israel-Gaza war.

Phillips blinked rapidly as Chan asked her question, and then began his response by turning around the question to ask her about how she feels about the Israelis killed by Hamas in the conflict.

“I’m going to answer each of your questions, but I have to tell you, I took note that you didn’t mention — how do you feel about the Israeli babies? And moms and dads and grandmas and hostages in Gaza who were brutally murdered? I just want to hear, before I answer your question, if that empathy is across humanity or only for Palestinians right now?” Phillips responded to Chan, a Manchester resident.

Phillips and Chan then debated whether she was being antagonistic, and when she said she hoped he would change his position on the cease-fire, the event devolved into a shouting match.

“They’re U.S. bombs; that’s the f---ing problem,” chimed in a man from across the room. A person seated in the same row as Chan shouted out that Phillips had not answered her question, and said, “You just gaslit her instead,” before getting up and walking out of the event.

“I gaslit?” Phillips asked, as more voices chimed in, “You did,” before Chan was escorted out of the town hall by three staffers. She accused Phillips of not caring about Gazan children, and he again turned around the issue to focus on Israelis.

Earlier in the event, Chan could be heard saying, “Is it?” in response to Phillips saying that Rep. James E. Clyburn’s assertion that he is disrespecting Black voters by focusing on New Hampshire is sad and wrong. Democrats changed their presidential nominating calendar to have South Carolina lead the nominating contest in 2024, instead of Iowa and New Hampshire, as part of a push for more diversity.

Chan said Phillips’s response on a cease-fire felt smug, arrogant and flippant. As she decried Democrats not doing enough, in her view, to prevent more Palestinian deaths, a staffer for Phillips opened the door of his red, white and blue campaign bus and walked directly behind her — not heeding the visibly upset Chan — to let Phillips’s dog, Henry, relieve himself nearby.

“I’m a Black person; sitting out would be one of the hardest things for me to ever do. There are people who died for my right to vote,” Chan said through tears minutes later. “I feel like I’m being put in a very precarious situation because I never want to disrespect my ancestors. … I’m gonna have to vote for somebody, and it’s going to be hard, because everyone who is running right now, they’re all not people I would ever want to vote for.”

Mark Meadows’ publisher is suing him for lying in his own book lol

https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/4292647-mark-meadows-sued-by-book-publisher-over-false-election-claims/

“I’m going to answer each of your questions, but I have to tell you, I took note that you didn’t mention — how do you feel about the Israeli babies? And moms and dads and grandmas and hostages in Gaza who were brutally murdered? I just want to hear, before I answer your question, if that empathy is across humanity or only for Palestinians right now?” Phillips responded to Chan, a Manchester resident.”

When it’s going great

Some elections coming up

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/11/04/10-biggest-races-election-day-00125386

Fingers crossed

“One ⁦@GlennYoungkin⁩ adviser, speaking on condition of anonymity, predicted a ‘massacre,’ saying the state’s center-left orientation and views on abortion would be too much for Youngkin to overcome.” https://t.co/e1Ra9wklUq

— Jeff E. Schapiro (@RTDSchapiro) November 4, 2023

As a newly minted Virginian, my first act is helping him eat shit.

I don't get to vote against my shitass governor (like myself, a transplanted New Jerseyan) until next November, but I'm ready.

I'm trying not to let myself feel too much hope about MS-GOV. Presley has been campaigning hard and Reeves has been hiding out hoping the (R) will be enough.

I hope the Democrats get out the vote efforts are more thorough in Mississippi than they were recently in Louisiana. In Louisiana too many Dems stayed home , allowing a right wing extremist to become governor with only a small percentage of registered voters

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/mike-johnson-son-monitor-porn-intake-covenant-eyes-1234870634/

Evangelicals are all insane.

“Accountability”

I expect his home looks very clean and tastefully decorated in a style that all but shouts "no humans live here".

“And no one beats off here, that’s for darn sure, yessiree.”

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."