US Politics, July 2024 - "Will you just drop out, man?"

If I steal a car in Missouri and stash it in Tennessee, it's a Missouri crime

But all the moving boxes around to keep them hidden stuff happened at Mara Lago

Biden also took stuff from DC. It’s what he did with it later thats different.

This is a truly remarkable bit of copy, from the widow of the man killed at Trump’s rally last weekend. pic.twitter.com/ZRLvRRz8OC

— SOTUS (@SteamboatUSA) July 15, 2024

…

“Devout Republican”

jesus christ.

eh if my mom got killed at a Trump rally I would gnaw off a pinkie before I took Trump's call

The rot is so deep

Begging pardon for posting something by center-right chin-stroker Walter Russell Mead from the Wall St. Journal. I'm not endorsing this so much as contemplating it. (Which I think is sort of his own position on it all.) From a conservative standpoint, it goes some way toward locating Trump in American political history, and explaining how the assassination attempt resonates on the right.

America’s Jacksonian Turn
The assassination attempt gives new power to an old political tendency.

Donald Trump was only glancingly wounded on Saturday, but the effects of the attack and of his courageous response will be profound. His chance of victory substantially increased, and the movement he represents will continue to be a powerful force in American policy regardless of November’s result.

Mr. Trump is part of a strain of American politics that Andrew Jackson brought to power in 1828. In domestic politics, Jacksonians are skeptical of big business, hate the political and social establishment, and demand “common sense” solutions to complex problems. They support the military but not an officer class seen as distant from the values and folkways of the nation — West Point stuffed shirts in the 19th century, “woke generals” today. They assume the political class is deeply and irreformably corrupt.

In foreign policy Jacksonians feel no need to spread democracy around the world. Instinctively realist, they view the United Nations and international law that would bind the U.S. with fear and contempt. Absent serious threats against America, Jacksonians have little interest in foreign affairs. But when the U.S. is attacked, they believe every measure is justified in its defense. Jacksonians don’t regret assaults on civilian targets during World War II, including Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Relentless warfare against terrorists is justified; most Jacksonians support Israel’s war in Gaza and believe the U.S. should respond to terror with the same vigor.

Sept. 11 was one of the moments in history, like Pearl Harbor, or the British attacks on Lexington and Concord in 1775, that ignited a Jacksonian firestorm across the U.S. and mobilized previously isolationist and almost pacifist Americans for war. Other such moments are the publication of the 1917 Zimmermann Telegram (in which Imperial Germany offered to help Mexico regain the territories lost in the Mexican-American War if it joined Germany’s side in World War I) and the destruction of the Maine in Havana (allegedly by Spain) in 1898.

What Jacksonians regard as the unsatisfactory outcomes of the “endless” wars in Iraq and Afghanistan led them to sour on the U.S. military presence in the Middle East. That didn’t change their attitude toward international politics and the need for a strong defense. In recent years, China has replaced jihadist terror as the prime enemy, but new terror attacks in the U.S. could easily reignite the fires.

For most Democratic policymakers, the presence and power of Jacksonian America is a national liability and a political danger. At home, Jacksonian hatred of educated elites and contempt for their policy preferences is a potent source of opposition to Democratic cultural and social policies. Abroad, Jacksonians’ skepticism about international organizations and law, their resistance to global climate policy, and their indifference to ideological crusades threatens essential elements of what most Democratic policymakers believe are sensible policies required to save the world.

Jacksonian America likes strong leaders, even those like George Washington and the two Roosevelts who come from elite backgrounds and whose policy preferences don’t always align perfectly with Jacksonian ideas. Jacksonians are deeply skeptical of most politicians; Jacksonian faith and loyalty, once given, can be enduring. This gives Jacksonian leaders flexibility on policies; the base will often follow where they lead.

Saturday’s events made America more Jacksonian and gave Mr. Trump an unbreakable hold on Jacksonian America. On the one hand, the assassination attempt reinforced the sense that Jacksonian America is under siege. On the other, Mr. Trump’s fist-waving defiance and determination quieted any doubt about his personal courage. Attacks on him from the political and journalistic establishments will only boost his standing with his followers and inflame Jacksonian hatred of elites.

The more Jacksonian America becomes, the harder it is for Democrats to win elections and to govern. Team Biden sought to tamp down the Jacksonian fires, but the most important fact about American politics in 2024, even before Saturday, was that these efforts have fallen short.

Democrats hoped that the superior wisdom of elite-guided policies would generate results that would convince the peasants to lay down their pitchforks and torches. Bidenomics would make Americans feel more prosperous at home as an enlightened foreign policy—wise, focused on alliances—would make the world safe again. In that atmosphere, Team Biden hoped, Mr. Trump’s rhetoric and promise of disruption would resonate with fewer voters and alarm more. The strategy was failing even before the debate. Bidenomics isn’t having the desired effect. Inflation and the high interest rates required to suppress it have infuriated voters, as have the administration’s controversial stands on immigration, gender, crime and climate change. The sense of growing international danger has made Mr. Trump’s attacks on the administration weakness resonate with worried voters who don’t see a world returning to stable normalcy.

The Butler, Pa., attack exposed another problem with the Biden strategy. Making Mr. Trump toxic has been the core theme of Democratic campaign rhetoric all year. Comparing him to Hitler and calling him a coward, a traitor and an existential threat to democracy have been Democratic talking points. This strategy boomeranged in spectacular fashion as, post-Butler, Democratic anti-Trump rhetoric looks like irresponsible demagoguery recklessly pushing the nation into crisis to serve President Biden’s political ambition.

After Butler, America has suddenly become a more Jacksonian nation. The shadow of Old Hickory looms larger than ever, and Donald Trump stands taller as his undisputed heir.

He sure is masturbating furiously.

The problem with Meade's analogy: Jackson won commanding majorities twice and won in 1824.

The popular vote, that is

not enough eyerolls in the world for that nonsense - wishful thinking at best

(not u, tipsy, ofc)

Well, yes. Read is a TrumpWorld fave.

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/01/22/andrew-jackson-donald-trump-216493/

And absolutely Trump's no Jackson. But the politics he's describing are very much what I see around me. It's what Republicans are now.

lol Mead I mean.

(Also by saying Trump's no Jackson, I don't in any way mean to endorse Jackson, good grief.)

He sure could wear a cloak, though!

Inspired the best #1 Billboard hit of any president too.

Saturday’s events made America more Jacksonian and gave Mr. Trump an unbreakable hold on Jacksonian America.

Also true before he got shot. That's a lot of words to plumb the depths of the American reactionary mind as it has always existed, column inches don't fill themselves I suppose.

The tendencies have always been there — and obv he doesn't dwell on the white male supremacy of it all — but it's interesting how few presidents have ever really embodied them. I think he's right to include both Roosevelts on the list, e.g. But not Reagan, who was a Cold War globalist. That populist engine has switched parties a few times, but it's mostly helped elect elite establishment types.

Now the elite establishment types are all partying in Milwaukee and are totally cool with it all. As long as he wins. If he blows it, they'll go back to trying to sweep some of this under the rug.

I don't think Reagan's imperialism is incompatible or that much has changed in the mindset - American reactionaries are still fine with war and conquest, isolationist sentiments are more a recognition that we don't have the capacity to dominate in the same way. The UN and NATO won't just do our bidding, so fuck them.

Oh I'm not counting on these guys being anti-war. There's inherent violence in the whole mindset. Jacksonian means Jacksonian.

But Reagan was of a different stripe. Terrible! But this wasn't quite his shtick. He sold lovable, not tyrannical.

For the most part -- if you weren't poor or gay.

He was actually awful in many ways. But he played grandpa on TV. The pretenses to civility were mostly empty, but in retrospect I kind of miss them.

The idea that Trump is skeptical of big business or hates the social establishment is ridiculous and somebody with a Ph.D. should be embarrassed to be falling for this transparent schtick.

He certainly PORTRAYS himself as being both of those things, but -- isn't it an academic's job to take a second to think about what's actually going on?

Haven't seen the whole Lester Holt interview, just the one clip over Biden's use of "bullseye" before the shooting. There was the suggestion earlier in this thread that Biden should have gotten indignant during the Stephanopolous interview, which made no sense to me because Stephanopolous's questions were quite reasonable. But tonight, he should have taken legitimate offense. "Are you serious? You're going to make an issue out of 'bullseye' in view of everything the other guy's said? Give me a break."

But he didn't. His answer was feckless, somewhere between seeming to be caught off guard and half-apologizing. Maybe he was concerned about the closeness of the event, I don't know. But that still seems like a big problem.

remember how butthurt Republicans got after Gabrielle Giffords was shot and Palin actually had recently run an ad with pictures of crosshairs all over blue states? that was even before this era of rot.

complete fumble if you don't manage to point out how absurd an accusation that is. armed ex-military people were on Telegram basically threatening to blow Biden away on inauguration day

Republicans have this weird habit of cosplaying as lefties, stealing their rhetoric and vernacular whenever it suits them

this is relatively recent, too, I think the lines began to blur in the 90s

The idea that Trump is skeptical of big business or hates the social establishment is ridiculous

Trump hates all sorts of people, especially the ones he thinks have never given him enough respect. It's no skin off his ear to bully CEOs. He's not anti-capitalist, obviously, but he's happy to trash anyone who's not with his program.

He craves their respect.

Oh of course he does! But more than that he wants to dominate them. He resents that he wants the respect, he resents them for not giving it. It's where he can tap into actual anti-elitism, it's not a pose.

In re Biden's response, a sharper candidate definitely could have pushed back much harder and made it all about MAGA rhetoric. Biden did get to that eventually and made the point OK, but the meek part is what got all the headlines, "Biden Apologizes for Language." I didn't watch the whole interview but looks like reviews are mixed, and on it goes.

The Teamsters President made an impressive heel turn tonight.

I have a labor friend who says he's reached out to the Democrats and is happy to talk there but hasn't heard back. The Trump people invited him.

Anyway, this is what I'm saying, this did not happen under Reagan lol.

This story makes it sound like the DNC hangup is probably that he hasn't endorsed Biden yet. But the Trump people let him come speak without making an endorsement. Which presumably the Democrats will have to now, too. Sean O'Brien is pretty good at power politics. Let's hope he's not also fascist, who knows.

https://www.axios.com/2024/07/16/teamsters-sean-obrien-trump-rnc-speech

obrien had some good bars (all of which got zero applause) but he’s an enormous asshole. democrats recently bailed out the entire teamster pension structure, which passed congress with zero republican votes

Who but an enormous asshole is going to be president of the Teamsters?

I think it's good to have any kind of labor message there, not that anyone was probably listening except to make fun of him.

“Unless they came back and said, there's no way you can win, me. No one's saying that. No poll says that.”

New YouGov polls (July 4-12) has Trump gaining ground, & ahead in the 7 battleground states.

But in the same poll, *among the same samples,* Dems lead all Senate races (margins between 6% to 12%). pic.twitter.com/HfJpxEaevy

— Taniel (@Taniel) July 15, 2024

starting to wonder what *would* constitute the evidence he needs to see

xps - even for a teamster that was a p reckless thing to do imo. just his appearance here is giving them infinitely more credibility than they deserve

the full answer is soooooo bad https://t.co/GTUMgO4J0e pic.twitter.com/SOVK3FNMeF

— ... (@adamvolo) July 15, 2024

what’s going on here. does this scan as normal talking to montana voters perhaps

He sounds ok.

Donald Trump's new running mate JD Vance says the UK may now be “the first truly Islamist country to get a nuclear weapon... since Labour took over" pic.twitter.com/wchcPYg2m5

— Adam Bienkov (@AdamBienkov) July 16, 2024

Hilarious.

just a thick racist prick reminding the UK that it is a colony of the US, incredible thing to say after Labour have worked so hard on alienating Muslim voters by being just as islamophobic as the Tories and Lammy is taking selfies with Bibi.

Trans: "Look over there! Big scary thing! No, don't look it's too scary!"

tbf no-one expects any US politician to know anything about or be interested in any countries other than the US and Israel.