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

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.

I just saw a photo of Trump with his bandaged ear at the Republican thing and it is ridiculous

You know the Van Gogh self-portrait is going to get repurposed in 5..4...

Oh that happened days ago.

That narrative about a minority group in a nation, with no loyalty to the nation in question, wielding disproportionate power and influence, remind you of anything?

where is Biden being interviewed, the Actor's Studio?

Jack Black turning his back on Kyle Gass. We live in unprecedented times. pic.twitter.com/tLvUWs4RzR

— Variable Slothrop (@moviesaredreams) July 16, 2024

This kind of chickenshit showbiz move really takes me back to the early 2000s.

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

― rick beato meato manifesto (Neanderthal)

almost like leftist ideas are actually popular, despite the democrats' assurances that nobody actually believes any of that leftist claptrap

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

― Mark G

you had me confused for a sec lol

Me too

Well, if this whole thing has rid the world of Tenacious D, then it's all been worth it.

fp'd

sorry, never found Tenacious D funny either

amazing that the same people who remain friends with toxic Trump supporters because "they're really a good person deep down" are the ones who are zero tolerance about Trump shooting jokes.

I posted a joke about it 5 minutes after it happened, fuck him, Kyle Gass otm

Whoops. Seems like RFK Jr.'s son posted and has since deleted video of a call between RFK Jr. and Trump after the shooting. In the video Trump repeats his old (false) claims about childhood vaccines, suggesting the vaccine schedule causes injuries in babies. https://t.co/K4RWXfoudS pic.twitter.com/KZcSBVtxWE

— Brandy Zadrozny (@BrandyZadrozny) July 16, 2024

Trump rambling about vaccines to RFK Jr.

Normal stuff, really, this is fine

Trump in full-on Grandpa Simpson mode there

DNC & Biden campaign trying to act early way before Dem convention

I've actually heard from one source that the plan is for a week EARLIER than this. Starting July 22 (next Monday) and ending July 29.
This will be confirmed this Friday with a Rules Committee vote. https://t.co/47eAgjNuur

— David Dayen (@ddayen) July 16, 2024