“I can hear those champagne bottle corks popping in Moscow — like it’s Christmas every fucking day": US Politics, February 2024

Money won't be a problem for Trump's campaign, but if the RNC is pumped dry for Donald it will affect their ability to pour millions into critical Congressional races and support downballot candidates. ofc, PACs will step in wherever they feel inclined, but this will at least put a crimp in the money hose.

yeah, this matters not so much for Trump but for control of Congress.

Yeah the best thing for us now is Trump using the Republican Party as his personal piggy bank.

Time for another round of NFT's: Astronaut, soccer star, rodeo cowboy etc.

pumped dry for Donald

Well, there is my least favorite phrase of the day, thxbye

construction worker, policeman

It's fun to stay at the...

Everybody do the arm motions now

C C C P? U S S R? that's so very passe and 70s.

Putin Steps Into US Race to Back ‘Old-Style’ Biden Over Trump

Vladimir Putin praised Joe Biden as a more reliable alternative for Russia than Donald Trump, making his first public comments on the American presidential election.

“He’s a more experienced person, he’s predictable, he’s an old-style politician,” the Russian president said of Biden in a state television interview when asked which of the two leading candidates would be better for Russia, according to a video released by the Kremlin.

daaaaaamn Donald must be pissed

Nah, he'll be all "If Russia doesn't like me, they must be SCARED of me"...

The Swifties got to him.

This is meant to help Trump

^so obvious it should have gone without saying but

Speaking of psy-ops

Trump is such an idiot he may misinterpret Putin's intentions.

Alfred OTM tho - as if Trump can't take that kind of rejection at face value.

I'm not convinced this is necessarily meant to help Trump per se (though it might be)

Trump is high reward but also high risk, and much of what Putin wants can be still be achieved with Biden at a lower risk. Also while the Kremlin is highly effective at exploiting fissures in the west, I'm not convinced Putin himself is, especially after missing the open goal presented by Tucker Carlson

Putin is perceived as a gambler, but I think this is only partially true. He's also extremely cautious and a procrastinator, interspersed with periods of rolling the dice (often to compensate for previous procrastination)

it could be a comment in competent good faith, it could be just shaking cages everywhere as much as one can. doubt it matters.

not everything can 'help Trump', like i doubt any voters give a shit about this. Trump will be mad and that's all I care about, because he's dumb when he's mad. well, dumber.

I think heightening division is a more important aim than either of the two candidates winning, but if Putin was personally adept at facilitating this, he failed to show it in his interview with Tucker, registering no shots on target even as Tucker lay down in the goal

people like him more when he's incensed about something and is railing against enemies, real or imaginary! this is what they go to see him talk about!

Putin's also basically calling Tucker a terrible interviewer, which is both true and an attempt to play the stateside audience like a piano

Putin's used to tough interviews

Wary about playing armchair psych here but I don't think his stated dissatisfaction with Tucker was an attempt to play the US audience either. The digs at Tucker attempting but failing to join the CIA felt real, a show of dominance, and this feels coming from the same place. Tucker genuflecting and simping was a show of weakness I think Putin couldn't respect, In a weird way Tucker sort of ended up in the same spot as Macron, a toady

Yeah well, with both Putin and Trump journalists just can't win

daaaaaamn Donald must be pissed

― poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, February 15, 2024 8:24 AM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Oh, snap

loooooooool

https://bsky.app/profile/hudsonrivercroc.bsky.social/post/3klhwnkiglc2y

Biden apparently suffers from the rare form of dementia that makes him more focused and disciplined as president than he ever was as vice president. This is the story the media should pursue, if they followed facts and ignored “vibes.

https://www.publicnotice.co/p/biden-hur-media-coverage

The article also recounts the terrible things he has said since, well, the beginning.

I feel like those kind of arguments kind of miss the point. Definitely we know voters weigh all the facts carefully and fairly and are not at all influenced by vibes.

But I get it, it’s the best answer. I just don’t know what voter needle it’s supposed to move.

I just don’t know what voter needle it’s supposed to move.

The nervous Democrats in my life.

People forget that Biden was making the same verbal gaffes when he first ran in 1980

Dalia has a pretty good piece restating the obvious: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2024/02/biden-age-controversy-vs-trump.html

exactly - Biden has always been a bad public speaker, to the point where it's really impressive he's been able to have the sort of career he has. he definitely sounds older and more tired but he talks the way he always has.

this, from the Slate piece, is very important:

Despite our fascination with the Great Man theory of American lawmaking, the presidency is an office that largely turns on superb staffing, visionary planning, deft political negotiation, and artful execution. Joe Biden doesn’t actually have to remember every single detail himself—he has to use his judgment to employ and empower a large contingent of skilled experts to execute upon their agreed-upon vision.

like, this is what we're actually voting for isn't it? I don't like Joe Biden and I *do* think he's too old but like...he's one part of a huge administration. companies can have the biggest morons on the planet as CEO and still succeed. Donald Trump insisted that all his intel briefings got significantly dumbed down because he has the attention span of a fish and at the end of the day it didn't really matter.

Electing masters of detail and public speaking like Clinton and Obama spoiled Democrats good; many people seem to believe those dudes did everything themselves.

What were they spoiled with though? It can only be the presentation, Biden has surely delivered more than either Clinton or Obama

or, the Biden administration, I should say

Right.

For me, nothing Biden does will have the life-improving impact of the ACA. The home-improvement rebates in the Inflation Reduction Act may go a long way, but for me it's Thanks Obama.

Frogbs has it right. The president is about one two-millionth of the government. He doesn't go over to the FDA to approve drugs. He doesn't go over to USDA to inspect beef. He doesn't put on a helmet to go invade Afghanistan (or whatever). He is not auditing your tax return.

The only reason to vote is to keep the ball moving in the right direction (slightly better outcomes, among what is achievable).

Yep. The issue isn’t about his governing. It’s about whether he can get reelected. It’s a binary answer (theoretically at least …), and we’ll find out soon enough. It’s on him and his campaign to make it happen.

Make the president a figurehead again

seems like this should be a story

NEW: An anti-Biden FBI informant fed the bureau lies about Joe Biden and Hunter Biden during the 2020 presidential race, according to a new indictment. https://t.co/x7hv6rCafn

— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) February 15, 2024

Time to put Smirnov... on ice

So surprised the October surprise was an October Surprise.

but what about russian nuclear death star thing? that's the REAL story

and more...

This is the most chaotic, inefficient and ineffective majority we’ve seen in decades covering Congress. It started this way under former Speaker Kevin McCarthy and has gotten worse under Johnson.

And things aren’t going to get easier. The House is leaving town today by 2:30 p.m.…

— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) February 15, 2024

Ooohhhh child, thing ain't gonna get easier

The 52-year-old Louisiana Republican — speaker for just 113 days — is a very pleasant man.

Lies.

But he and his top aides, most of whom are new to the leadership, have still failed to get a feel for governing successfully.

Pretty sure a barely functioning government with occasional oopsie shutdowns is their idea of successful governing with a Democratic President.